A little Insanity is Good for the Soul
by Awesomeness Incarnate
Summary: Naruto makes a new friend and his tolerance for insanity gets put to the test. In the meantime, he reevaluates his own personality and skill sets. Emphasis on NaruXHina, Humor, and elemental manipulation and includes two OCs. Human Kyuubi later on.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter I

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (due to an unlucky coincidence)

A/N: Yay! My first fic ever! please read it and review people!

* * *

Naruto glanced up from where he sat in the classroom; front row, carefully not quite next to Sasuke, as per usual. He had looked up just in time to see the door quietly swinging open to reveal the kid that Naruto was still thinking of as the 'new boy', even though he vaguely remembered that this boy had been showing up to class for a good three weeks or so. He had even sat next to Naruto once or twice in that time. Which didn't necessarily mean that Naruto knew his name.

The boy stepped forward and then hesitated before proceeding. He had brownish skin in addition to brown eyes and hair. Most unusual in Konoha. Naruto assumed that he was looking for somewhere to sit, until he realized that the boy's eyes were fixed on the wall above the top row of seats. He was not trying to catch anyone's eye. The kid turned slightly, his hands clasped behind his back and meandered over to where Sasuke sat, by the left-hand windows, until he was standing right in front of the broody emo. When he got there, he unclasped his hands from behind his back and propped them on the edge of the desk, leaning forward to peer into Sasuke's face. Naruto stared, intrigued.

The Uchiha glanced away from the window to find the new boy studying him with frowning concentration, his face uncomfortably close to Sasuke's own. When he had the emo's attention, the boy nodded decisively. "Yup. It _does_ look like a duck's butt." Sasuke froze for a moment, as did a few of his nearby fan girls, before contemptuously breaking eye contact and turning to look out the window once again.

At that moment, just as the boy dropped his hands from the desk to stand up straight again, two of the Uchiha's most adamant fans burst into the room. "I'm going to sit next to Sasuke-kun!" shrilled Sakura.

"No, I am! I totally got here first!" declared Ino.

"No, I did! I'll sit next to him!"

"No, me!"

"Ino-pig!"

"Forehead!"

"No!" screamed the new boy, scaring the shit out of everyone nearby. "I'M going to sit next to Sasuke-kun!" So saying, he vaulted over the desk in front of him and slid onto the bench beside to Uchiha, who was staring at him with round, shocked eyes. The boy sidled along the bench, crowding Sasuke up against the window before shooting him and enormous, insane grin. "Hey, Sasuke-kun."

Naruto stared at the boy along with the rest of the class. "Who are you?" he asked. He was currently filled with admiration for the boy. He had just shut up the entire class with only two sentences.

The boy shot him another grin. "Oscar Junomaru!"

Naruto looked at him skeptically. "Really?"

Oscar gave him a wounded look, still squashing Sasuke up against the window. "Well, yeah. I know it's a weird name, but it works for me. You're Naruto Uzumaki. Future Hokage and currently on your third try at passing the genin test, and frequenter of that little ramen booth in town."

Surprised, Naruto asked the obvious question. "How'd you know that?"

"I _have_ been here for a few weeks. Even though not many people actually talked to me, there's some stuff you just pick up. Even if most of it is just crap about ol' duck-butt here." He nudged Sasuke in the ribs.

At that point, Iruka entered the classroom, necessitating Oscar to scoot over away from the Uchiha and sit up straighter. As he did, Naruto recognized a genin headband hanging around the boy's neck. Confused, he leaned forward enough to see the village symbol on the plate. It was the overlapping ovals of Kumo. Naruto resolved to talk to him after class.

Naruto caught up with Oscar as they were leaving the academy building, catching hold of the other boy's hand. Oscar swung around, surprised. "What? Do you need something?" he asked.

"I just want to talk'" the blonde boy said. "Will you walk with me?"

Oscar gave him a slightly uncertain look. "I guess so…."

They began to walk. Neither really had a destination in mind, so they began to meander in the direction of the training fields. Naruto took a breath. "I have some questions for you," he said, in as close to a level voice as he had ever come.

"What about?"

"Well firstly, why did you give me that funny look when I asked you just to walk with me?"

"I was just surprised," the dark boy looked down at his feet. "No one's ever just asked to talk to me, even back home and especially not here. That's why I yelled my head off today in class. I wanted to be sure that everyone knew me and my name." He grinned. "Also, that was fun!"

"Yeah it was! That stunt you pulled was pure genius! Were you planning it all along?"

"Well, yeah. I'm kinda getting sick of the way everyone treats that Uchiha kid. Not good for anyone."

"How do you mean?" Naruto asked, frowning. He privately agreed that the way everyone pandered to the Uchiha was annoying, but he was used to it and he didn't think it was doing any harm.

Oscar frowned, slightly frustrated. "It's like…they don't view him as a person, more like some precious artifact. Everyone teaches him and follows him around, thinking they're treating him right when they're really doing more harm than good. When he finally gets sent on a mission to a foreign village, he won't be used to assimilating because here, everyone treats the fact that he's different and isolated as a good thing. Also, they're doing untold harm to him by not allowing him to grow up a normal child. I know the death of his clan would have made it hard for him to enjoy life for at least a while, but really, if you step back and take another look, the kid has no friends and no family figures, he has no one to turn to that he can intimately trust, and none of the support he needs. Everyone treats him like an adult and he puts up with it, thinking that he's fulfilling their expectations and doing his mind and personality untold harm!"

Naruto marveled. "You've put a lot of thought into this."

Oscar snorted derisively. "Not like I've had anyone one else to talk to. Until now." He gave Naruto a warm smile. "Sasuke's not the only one I've been evaluating. Information gathering is part of a shinobi's job."

Naruto remembered something else that he had wanted to ask. "You're already a genin, right? Why have you been coming to the academy?"

"My parents sent me with a note to the Hokage. In it, they apparently asked that I be allowed to attend the academy until the genin exams so I could meet some of the people my age. That way, once the team assignments come around, I'll already know the people on whatever team I'm assigned to."

"Oh…so, you came from Kumo, right? That's where you must have gotten the headband. Where are you staying?"

"Staying?" Oscar's face took on a haunted expression. "You mean as in sleeping? Indoors? I actually couldn't afford to rent a place yet…I mean I have some money but it wasn't quite…I mean I haven't really had time to look for a place what with going to school and stuff."

Naruto took pity on him. "Well, there are a bunch of empty apartments in my building, you could probably take one of those…after all, nobody cares what goes on in the top floor. Yeah! You could definitely use of those!"

Oscar stood frozen. "Really?" He whispered.

"Um yeah. Are you-?"

"Yay!" Oscar gave a cheer at the top of his voice and threw his arms around his startled companion. "You are the awesomest! Can you take me there? Now?"

Naruto was not entirely sure how, but he ended up giving his new friend a ride on his back up the stairs to his new apartment.

When they reached the top floor of the apartment building, Naruto let Oscar slide off to the floor. He opened the second door along. "This is my room," he explained "You can look around if you want to." The shorter boy peered around the edge of the door.

"Are there more rooms?"

The blonde nodded in confirmation. "Here. You take this one." Naruto lead him back up the hall to the first door they had passed. "Do you want to get settled, or do something else?" Naruto asked, awkwardly standing in the door.

Oscar glanced at him. "I think I'll get settled in here, if you don't mind. What about you? What do you do once the academy lets out for the day?"

"I'm going to go down to the practice fields and try to do a little training, actually."

"Maybe I'll join you later."

"Okay!" Naruto closed the door and bounded away; relieved to get a chance to do some training, although he knew he would probably end up pulling up a new prank instead.

* * *

The next day at the academy, Oscar came in and immediately sat himself between Sasuke and Naruto, giving all of the awe-stuck fan girls a hard stare to keep them off his back. Then he turned to Sasuke and began to make conversation, or tried to. From where Naruto was sitting, it didn't look like the Uchiha was doing any of the talking. Because of this, it seem that Oscar was getting a little exasperated, demonstrated by the statement, "Alright, so you don't want to talk. Why don't I ask you questions and I'll take silence for yes and an eye-roll for no."

Sasuke quickly closed his eyes before they betrayed his 'no' to this suggestion. "You can do whatever you want. It doesn't matter to me," he replied flatly.

"Oh so you're not mute!" Oscar cried out gleefully. He twisted around in his seat and stared up at Kiba, who appeared to be lying low. "Oi! Kiba!" he shouted. "Pay up!"

"You made a bet with Kiba?" Naruto asked, incredulously.

"Yeah. He bet me that I couldn't make Sir-emo talk," he grinned triumphantly. "I can make almost anyone talk. Especially if they really don't want to."

"You should be in Torture and Interrogation," Naruto said, respectfully.

"That's what I'm aiming for," the brown-eyed boy replied, soberly. Then a thoughtful expression came into his eyes. "I have an idea. Lets go for ramen later. Kiba's treat."

"All right!"

"And Sasuke will come too."

"What? Why?" Naruto asked, almost distracted from the prospect of ramen.

"Because if he had completely refused to talk, we wouldn't be going," he explained, not unreasonably. He turned to the sulking boy on his left to consult him. "What do you say? Wanna come?"

Sasuke regarded him for a few seconds. Then, when everyone was sure he would either refuse or stay silent, he gave a tiny nod, not so much as shifting his expression. "Very well."

Oscar grinned even wider. He got up, edged past Naruto, went up the aisle and stood before Shikamaru, who had his head down on the desk. "You," Oscar said, pointing at Shikamaru, much to everyone's confusion. "You pay up, too. I got him to agree."

The lazy boy gave an indistinct mutter. Oscar frowned. "Pay me after, then. You can come too, if you want." Shikamaru seem to deliberate for a second, then agreed. Oscar gave a nod and went back down the aisle to his seat between Sasuke and Naruto.

Naruto gave him a disbelieving look. "Are you inviting everyone?"

The brown-haired boy shook his head. "Not everyone, just enough people to make Shikamaru and Kiba hard-pressed to cover the bill," he said blissfully. He slid down in his chair, crossed his legs at the ankles, leaned back and sighed happily. "I love getting here early."

Just then, Iruka walked in.

* * *

"You know, the genin exam is in a couple of days," Naruto commented to Oscar as they walked back to the apartment (Oscar wanted to drop off his books before heading to the training field.)

"I know," The shorter boy replied, "but I don't have to retake the test, remember?" He indicated his Kumo forehead protector that was hanging around his neck.

"Oh yeah." Naruto brooded for a moment, allowing himself to remember his past failures in that area. "Listen, do you mind if I go and get a head-start in training? I still need to practice cloning. Can you go by yourself and then meet up with me?"

"No problem," He responded. "You go on."

"Thanks," Naruto said, relieved. The fact was, his clones were still looking like they had been put through a mangle every time he succeeded in forming some. He was starting to panic slightly at that prospect of repeating a year at the academy once more. He hurried off.

Oscar walked back to the apartment on his own, absorbed in his own thoughts. After he dumped his books on his bed, he made his way down the stairs and out into the street. Walking slowly, he made his way toward the large training field that his friend preferred to use. People hardly ever used it, so Naruto had figured that no one would see him there, wrestling desperately with the clone jutsu. Oscar had already offered his assistance, but Naruto had turned him down.

Not quite paying attention to his surroundings, as people who know a route quite well often do, the dark boy came to his senses in the small wooded copse that bordered Naruto's preferred training ground. He was not alone. Standing roughly thirty feet in front of Oscar, her back turned toward him, was an unmistakable dark-haired girl. She was standing peering out from around a tree, watching her favorite blue-eyed boy. With this attraction occupying her attention, she had not even noticed Oscar standing behind her.

A wicked smirk graced his lips. Yes he knew it was cruel, but the opportunity was too good to miss, and, anyway, he would make it up to her by helping her out later. He sneaked forward, careful not to let her hear him. When he was almost directly behind her, he stretched out two fingers and poked her hard in the ribs "TAZER!"

Hinata jumped about a mile and whipped around, her hand snapping out in reflex and catching Oscar in the side of the head sending him reeling. When she realized what she had just done, her face flooded red and she snatched her hands back. "O-Oscar-kun!" she gasped, "are you a-alright?"

He sat up in the long grass. "Ow. Yes. That'll teach me to sneak up on a taijutsu specialist." He groaned, getting to his feet and rubbing his head. "I think I really need to work on that whole 'look before you leap' thing. Really, Oscar, what were you expecting?"

Oscar's berating himself was not doing anything for Hinata's guilt. She was almost in tears as she stuttered, "I'm s-so s-sorry Oscar-k-kun. I didn't m-mean… I mean I d-didn't expect… I-I mean… I'm s-sorry!"

"What's happening?" Hinata started and blushed even harder as her long-time crush peered around a tree and into her staring face.

"Nothing," Oscar said smoothly, dropping his hands to his sides. "I was only asking her a question." He turned to Hinata, who was watching him lie with mixed terror and embarrassment. "Do you think you can hang around to explain it to me, or do you have to leave now? You said you had something that you have to get to soon. Do you think you should go now so your escort doesn't worry?"

The shy girl was extremely grateful. He had just provided her an excuse to leave and not look like she was running away while at the same time, providing an excuse to stay and talk to him and Naruto for a little while longer if she wanted to. However, as she knew she was something of a coward, she took the easy way out. "Th-thank you f-for reminding me Oscar-kun. I th-think I ought to g-go n-now. G-goodbye Oscar, N-naruto-kun." She scuttled off, highly ashamed, but relieved all the same.

Both boys watched her go. "Weird," Naruto commented. "What were you talking about?"

"Oh, nothing," Oscar said, waving away the question. He paused, "What do you think of her," he asked, probing his friend for Hinata's sake.

Naruto gave a halfhearted shrug. "She's quiet." He thought for a moment. "She also doesn't hit people just because."

Oscar supposed this was as good as it was going to get, for now.

* * *

On the morning of the genin exam, Naruto woke early to fit in a little last-minute clone practice. He was certain that this was the year he would finally pass. His clones were looking a little misty and like they had hangovers, but Naruto figured that if he forced himself to look like that too while he was performing the jutsu, Iruka would think that the clones were in fact perfect copies. Armed with his own certainty, Naruto roused Oscar, an unusually tricky and dangerous task that morning. After ensuring that his friend could stand without assistance, they set off for the academy together.

Once they were inside, Naruto headed for his customary front-row seat, but was once again surprised when his groggy friend set off up the aisle and plopped himself down next to Shikamaru. Naruto followed Oscar up the aisle to ask why.

"Because I didn't get enough sleep and Shika won't make too much noise," Came the muffled reply, Oscar having put his arms on the desk and buried his face in them. "Go away."

Naruto shrugged and went down to his own seat to take up his usual vigil of glaring daggers at his rival, Sasuke. When Iruka entered the classroom, Naruto for once quit glaring and sat up straighter, a look of eager anticipation on his face. Iruka smiled softly at his student, trying to give the impression of being certain of Naruto's passing.

Naruto beamed and settled own in his seat to wait for his own turn. He soon grew bored of waiting for his own turn and of watching his classmates go up one by one and performing the three basic jutsu perfectly. "There had better be a hitai-ate left for me when the rest of them finish," He muttered, sliding down in his seat and closing his eyes.

He was jerked out of his fantasies of becoming a ninja when he heard his own name, "Uzumaki Naruto."

His eyes opened and he shot out of his seat, arms raised above his head. "I'm gonna make it this year!" he yelled, oblivious to the eye rolls he was getting from his peers. He stepped out into the aisle and strode forward until he was standing before of Iruka at the front of the classroom.

Iruka gave him an encouraging nod. "Okay, Naruto. You know the drill."

Naruto smirked confidently as he executed a perfect kawirimi with the chair that had been hauled out for this purpose. Then he formed the handseal for a henge and became an exact double of his sensei, Iruka. After letting Iruka examine the henge for imperfections and receiving the word to continue, he dropped Iruka's form to concentrate better. With perfect certainty, he went through the hand seals for bunshin no jutsu, focusing on forming two clones. Because he had made it this far, he rushed a little, his fingers fumbling. He felt the clones spring into being behind him and the chakra he was channeling falter and knew that something had gone wrong. One look at his sensei's face confirmed his worst fears. He slowly turned around and stared hard at his clones, the results of hours of practice. They resembled nothing so much as two corpses that had been run over by cart horses and then stuffed into orange jumpsuits.

His shoulders slumped in disappointment. Miserable, he turned to head back to his seat, though he would have desired more to flee from the scene of his humiliation. He numbly sat through the rest of the day, sat through Iruka's instructions to the new genin to arrive at the academy tomorrow to receive their team assignments. When everyone was dismissed, Naruto stood up and shuffled out, head hanging and eyes downcast so as not to catch anyone's eye. If he had been looking around, he might have noticed a certain lavender-eyed kunoichi gazing after him in sympathy and concern.

Naruto found that he felt too tired, all of a sudden, to walk all the way back to his apartment. As soon as he was outside, his feet carried him to the nearest swing and he sank on to it. He was not aware of how long he sat there, nor was he aware of the parents of his classmates passing him. He only came to his senses when he heard someone behind him clear his throat. Naruto raised his head slowly and twisted around. Behind him stood Mizuki-sensei. Apparently he had a proposition to redeem Naruto and earn him the genin title at last. Naruto's ears pricked up.

* * *

Naruto sighed. He had been waiting for Mizuki to show up for what felt like hours to the hyperactive blonde. Could it be that he had turned up early? Maybe. He had certainly left himself enough time to steal the scroll and get to the meeting place specified by his sensei. Ah well. Nothing left to do but kill time.

After a few minutes of boredom, it occurred to the boy that stealing the huge scroll had been relatively easy. Would it really be accepted as a replacement for knowing the basic three jutsus? Perhaps this was a new kind of test. Infiltration mixed with Information-gathering? If that were so, it would follow that the blonde was supposed to profit from the scroll he had lifted. His actions justified to the boy's satisfaction, he hastened to sit down and spread the scroll out in front of him. He eagerly began to read.

He was, however, slightly annoyed to find that the first new jutsu on the scroll, the shadow-clone, was a more difficult version of the ever-elusive clone. He supposed that, since this was a different variation, despite being more complicated, it might, in fact, be easier to accomplish with his huge chakra stores than the normal clone jutsu, seeing as it was the volume of raw chakra that had caused his normal clones to form mangled most of the time. The scroll seemed to indicate that it took an awful lot of chakra to make a shadow-clone.

In the past, he had always tried to form normal clones two at a time, that being the required number for an academy student to form in order to become a genin. Naruto decided to try making just one of the new shadow-clones, focusing on chakra control as he formed the seals. He was not to know that channeling too much chakra into a shadow clone would not screw it up like it would with a normal clone. He knew that it took more control to form just one normal clone than it did to form an army. For a large number, he could channel all that chakra he could spare without restraint and then form the seal, ending up with a ridiculous number of clones, but for a single clone, he had to ensure that he didn't let too much chakra flow or he would overload the clone jutsu and produce a clone good for absolutely nothing. Naruto thought that these same principals applied to shadow-clones as well. Naruto thought his control probably wasn't good enough to bring off a single perfect shadow clone the first time. He knew he should start with a large number and work his way down in order to hone his control along the way, but hey- the boy wasn't exactly known for his patience.

So he focused fiercely on only letting out a tiny bit of chakra (from his perspective) and formed the seal indicated in the scroll. With a poof of smoke, a perfect shadow-clone appeared sitting in front of Naruto on the grass. "Yes!" The original cried, extremely smug at producing his first-ever perfect clone of any kind.

The shadow-clone before him blinked confusedly. "Who are you?" it asked dazedly.

Naruto was a little put off that it would have to ask, but that wasn't quite enough to curb his boundless enthusiasm. "I am Naruto Uzumaki, soon to be the fifth Hokage! I created you! You are my clone," the boy said eagerly. It was so cool to be talking to himself.

The shadow-clone was not impressed, however. "You can't be Naruto," It said, a touch heatedly. "I'm Naruto! And I'm the one who's going to be the fifth Hokage." It glared at him with his own blue eyes.

Naruto was kind of confused and definitely starting to get annoyed. "We're the same person! It's just that I'm the real one and you're a copy of me! It says here," Naruto indicated the secret scroll spread out between him and his clone, "that when I create a shadow-clone like you, you start out with all of the same memories as me until you start to make your own. And when you're dispelled, I get all of the memories you made!"

The shadow-clone glared at him. "But I remember making a clone! You must be the clone! I can't be wrong! I am Naruto Uzumaki! Everyone will respect and recognize me, even if I have to prank this whole village to achieve that! You will respect me! You must be that clone I made!"

Naruto stared at the irate shadow-clone. Maybe it was defective or something. He didn't really act like that, did he?

The clone wasn't finished with his rant. "No one has ever shown kindness to me! Not even my own clone! Why can't you be kind to me? Why can't I even hold a civil conversation with myself? I can't trust anyone, can I? I mean, you know how badly I was treated as a child! After all, you were the one who said," The clone faltered a little before going on, "that's right. You were the one who pointed out that a clone has all of the memories of the creator. You have to remember all of those mobs! Why can't you just cut me some slack? I was all happy about finally making a good clone for once but then you have to go and be all rude and annoying…no respect…after all, I did make you…." The clone glared at Naruto, breathing heavily. "Brat," It spat.

Naruto was sitting back leaning against a tree by this time, his head on one side, considering the glaring clone. "Are you done?" He asked patiently. "'Cause if your not, I advise you to wrap it up. Mizuki will be here soon, and I have things to think about other than defective clones."

The clone's eyes flashed in hard rage. Naruto was not impressed. He was used to angry looks wherever he went. Although, as it seemed, the clone was not quite done. "You do not yet respect me, do you? You can't possibly be my clone. Who are you? Is this some kind of villager trick? Are you some other shinobi who is determined to make my life even more miserable by playing a prank on me? Did you just henge into a copy of me just to raise my hopes by making me think that I had finally achieved a perfect clone? Out with it! Who sent you? Isn't there anyone I can trust in this log-damn village?"

Naruto was appalled. "Hey, I know your upset, but you must not use the log's name in vain! What kind of clone are you?" he shouted.

"Clone?" The copy shrieked, "Clone? I'm not a clone and neither are you! This must be some sort of villager prank!"

But Naruto was no longer attending. His ears pricked up as he heard the bushes rustle. He turned hastily to the clone. "Dispel," he told it, "quickly." The clone opened his mouth to continue ranting and showed no inclination to dispel. So Naruto dispelled it instead, hastily rolling up the scroll and slinging it across his back.

He turned as the bushes parted, not to reveal Mizuki, but Iruka. Iruka stared at him, just as confused. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Naruto was wondering the same about his sensei. "I came to meet Mizuki-sensei," he explained. "Did he send you to meet me instead? Does he want me to give you the scroll to give to him?"

Iruka's eyes widened in shock as he recognized the enormous scroll that his student was reaching for, "Where did you get that?" he asked, his voice feigning calm but shaking a little with the effort.

Naruto was a little suspicious now. It caused him a little jolt to realize that he did indeed become paranoid and suspicious as hastily as his shadow clone had. "I stole it," he explained. "Mizuki told me that if I stole the Forbidden scroll and gave it to him, he would make me a genin. Didn't he tell you?"

Iruka looked suddenly alarmed. "No he did not. Naruto, whatever you do, you are not to give that scroll to Mizuki, do you understa-" Iruka was suddenly cut off by a hail of kunai which flew from the trees and pinned Iruka to the side of a shed, several of them piercing his skin. "Go!" he gasped at Naruto. "Don't give it to him!"

Naruto tilted his head back to see his other sensei, Mizuki, standing in the tree above him. "What's this all about?" Naruto asked quietly, trying to master his feelings.

Mizuki didn't even hear him. He held out a hand. "Give me the scroll," he said calmly, staring straight into Naruto's eyes. "You have no need of it. Do you want to know why? I bet you will. It has to do with why everyone hates you. Even Iruka over there. He hates you too. Do you want to know why?"

Behind Naruto, Iruka began to yell. "No! Don't say it, Mizuki! Don't listen to him, Naruto! Don't give it to him no matter what he says! Run!" But no one listened to the trapped man.

Mizuki's eyes narrowed, knowing he had the attention of the boy. "You know the story, don't you? How, twelve years ago, your idol, the Forth Hokage, defeated the mighty Kyuubi, the Nine Tailed Demon Fox."

The boy nodded, almost unconsciously, eyes still fixed on the figure in the tree.

"Well, most people know that story," Mizuki continued, "but only some people know the true story. The Forth Hokage, no matter how powerful he was, was nowhere near strong enough to actually slay the Kyuubi. So instead, he sealed it- at the cost of his own life. Sealed it inside the only baby born on the day of the Kyuubi's attack, October 10. Your birthday, I believe." He smiled the cold satisfied smile of someone who knows he's right and that there's nothing you can do about it.

Naruto's mind reeled. He was the Kyuubi? Was he then responsible for all of those deaths on the night of the Kyuubi's attack? No wonder the villagers hated him. No wonder he had grown up so suspicious and unfriendly. No wonder… Naruto shook himself mentally. He had been standing frozen to the spot, something no good shinobi would do. Mizuki was trying to weaken his defenses by catching him off guard. Well that was not about to happen. For the first time since Mizuki had started his speech, Naruto came to a decision and spoke. "Well," he said, loud enough for both of his senseis to hear. "It's interesting and all, but so going to repress those feelings right now. I can think about it later, but right now, the most important thing is to keep you away from this scroll!" Naruto had broken eye contact with Mizuki, but he looked up again to find that the man heaving and enormous shuriken at him. With great presence of mind, Naruto's fingers began flying to form the sign for a kawirimi, but he was interrupted in his jutsu when Iruka, who had worked himself free, threw himself into the path of the shuriken. Naruto was thrown onto his back, staring up into Iruka's face.

"Run," Iruka whispered. "I understand why you always acted like nothing could hurt you. It was because you were hurting so much on the inside that you had to find some way to let it out. I know because I acted the same way after the Kyuubi killed my parents, acting like I didn't care because I didn't know how to tell people that I did. I do not hold you responsible for what happened on the night you were born. I'm sorry. But now, I need you to run. Protect the scroll and yourself and run." Naruto stared searchingly into Iruka's eyes before sliding out from under him, scrambling to his feet and dashing off into the trees.

He stopped running before long, out of sight but not too far. He calmed himself, repressing his feelings of shock. He was the Kyuubi? No. He mustn't think of that now. Iruka had bought him some time, but he wasn't going to run away. Iruka understood him. He had to go back, but he also needed a plan. The only thing that sounded remotely like a good idea to him was to form as many of those solid shadow clones as he could and hope the sheer numbers would stop them from rebelling against him.

Suddenly he heard voices behind him. He listened closely and recognized his two senseis' voices. Talking about him. He was touched at the way Iruka defended him; calling Naruto one of his best students. Iruka's loyalty lit fire in him. He stood up, determined to defend his teacher. His friend. He peeked out from behind the tree to see Mizuki bearing down on Iruka. Without a moment to lose, Naruto leapt out of hiding, knee up, and kicked Mizuki, hard, across the face.

Mizuki reeled back and fell to the ground, his second giant shuriken spinning out of his hand. Without waiting to engage in banter, Naruto formed a handseal and called out, "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" He poured every ounce of his chakra into the jutsu and the results were staggering. In no time at all, the clearing was awash with orange-clad figures. They all leered at Mizuki and, at the original's signal, pounced.

Iruka watched with astonished admiration as the Narutos proceeded to beat the crap out of Mizuki. When he was sure Naruto was finished and that all of the shadow clones had been dispelled, Iruka called the blonde boy over and instructed him to close his eyes. When Iruka gave him the okay, Naruto open his eyes again, to find that he had Iruka-sensei's forehead protector tied around his own head. He barely heard the words that Iruka spoke as he tackled him, hugging fiercely.

* * *

A/N: Wow. feels great to have finished the first chapter. You'll find Oscar very thoroughly involved in all future events, though it's still Naruto's story. And guys, I am not about to change Oscar's name. I'm not sure what to say. Sorry? If it makes you feel any better, I had to come up with a last name for Oscar a few days ago. So his full name is Oscar Junomaru. In addition, my other OC has as Japanese-sounding a name I could make up without actually knowing if it really means anything already. His name is Jaitan.

If you want to check out their bios, they're on my author page. I'm not entirely sure when I can next update, and it feels a bit optimistic to say I'll have it in a week, but I certainly will try to have it up soon. Enjoy! Review!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Naruto raced up the stairs of his apartment building, oblivious to the noise he was making. Once he reached the top floor, he hammered on Oscar's door. After a few seconds of impatient waiting, the door was pulled open and the sleepy boy stood in the doorway wearing a tee shirt and flannel pants with pictures of clouds on them. "What is it?" he asked, running a hand through his already-messy hair. "And can it wait until tomorrow?"

"No." Naruto said, "This cannot wait. Come to my room so I can tell you about it."

Oscar muttered something about what he'd like to do to people who are cryptic and melodramatic in the middle of the night. Then he yawned. "You go on into your room. I'll join you in a second." he stepped back and shut the door. Naruto proceeded down the hall and entered his own room, sinking down on the bed. He sat there for a total of roughly ten seconds before got up and began to pace, mind still spinning. He removed his new headband and laid it carefully on top of the dresser. Then he resumed pacing. When heard the creak of hinges, he whirled around to look at the door, but no one was there. Therefore, he jumped a mile when he heard Oscar's voice somewhere near the floor.

"High-strung much?" Naruto couldn't figure out where his friend was until he crouched down to look under a table that was pushed against the wall. The same wall which separated his room and Oscar's. He blinked, momentarily distracted by what he saw. _Whoa. Didn't see that coming_, he thought. It seemed that Oscar had discovered a tiny door in the wall that connected the two rooms. It was a little more than two feet square and was situated in a spot in the wall that happened to have a table over it in Naruto's room.

Naruto backed up a little to make room as his friend put his head down and crawled through the tiny opening and swung the door shut behind him with his foot. He crawled out from under the table and sat up, crossing his legs, "Well?" he prompted as the blue-eyed boy hastily sat down in front of him, "What's the story? What do you need? And log help you if I decide that it _could_ have waited until tomorrow."

"Um." Naruto had been so sure that this was something that he had to tell someone else, but after seeing his own behavior reflected in his shadow clone's he was sure that the way to broach this was not to blurt out 'I have a huge demon fox sealed inside of me,' so he opted for the more gradual approach. "Have you ever heard of someone having a bijuu sealed inside of them at birth?"

"Of course," Oscar replied promptly.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm from Kumo, remember? The Raikage's brother is a Jinchiriki, so most people where I come from understand the concept."

Naruto was a little lost from this explanation. "What's a Jinchuriki?" he asked, helplessly.

"It's the official name for someone who has a tailed demon sealed inside of him," Oscar explained.

"Have you ever met a Jinchuriki?" Naruto asked, searching for something that might soften the blow when it finally came time to deliver it.

"No. I'm not important enough to meet the Raikage's brother. That is, no one except for me thought I was important enough."

"About that," Naruto said, tired of dancing around the subject and finally allowing his straightforward side to win out. "It turns out, I'm a Jinchuriki. I only found out tonight, but it seems that I have the Kyuubi no Yoko sealed inside of me." Naruto hung his head, peering out at his friend from under his hair, waiting for a reaction.

Oscar, to his credit, didn't so much as stiffen. He put his head to one side and regarded Naruto, before speaking, "That kinda makes sense. The Kyuubi attack was thirteen years ago, right? And you're thirteen years old, right? And it would explain why everyone ignores and mistreats you." Naruto nodded in agreement, hardly daring to believe what he was hearing, but Oscar wasn't finished. He was frowning now, and as he did, Naruto's spirits plummeted. "But," Oscar said in a pondering kind of voice, "Why on earth would people treat you like that just because you're a Jinchuriki? That doesn't add up. Don't they realize that Jinchuriki are not responsible for the actions of their tenants until after they're sealed? Why should you be blamed for attacks the Kyuubi made before you were born?" They sat in silence for a minute before the dark boy let out a tired sigh. "I have a theory," he said. He put out a hand and took hold of one of Naruto's shoulders until the blonde consented to look up into the dark boy's face.

"What's your theory?" He asked miserably, sure that it would be something along the lines of 'You're lying to me.'

"My theory is that people are bastards who let raw emotion fuel their actions instead of logic. Does that sound about right to you?"

Naruto felt he could have hugged Oscar if he hadn't been weak with relief.

* * *

The next morning, Oscar crawled through the tiny door in the wall into a scene of intense indecision. On the one hand, Naruto wanted to wear his forehead protector as a sign that he had finally become a genin, but on the other hand, he was afraid of damaging it. He confronted Oscar with this dilemma, hoping for advice. Oscar sighed a bit.

"Wear it, Naruto," he said wearily. "What your saying is similar to if I said 'I'd use my brain, but I'd be afraid of wearing out the batteries.'" He wore it after that.

Arriving at his classroom door at the academy, Naruto steeled himself to face the disbelief that he knew would come. In the normal way, he wouldn't let that bother him and would go in grinning and yelling like a loudmouth idiot: very un-shinobi-like. Now that he was determined to reevaluate his attitude and personality, he decided to go in quietly and unobtrusively as if it were perfectly natural for him to be returning.

He pushed open the classroom door and Oscar followed him inside. Naruto kept his head down, hoping not to attract the stares of his classmates, with little success. As he stepped forward, Kiba stood up and pointed at him from across the room. "Hey!" he called, "Who said you could come back, deadlast?"

Naruto had to bite his lip to stop one of his old retorts flying to his lips. Instead, he calmly looked the young Inuzuka in the eyes and inquired, "In what way exactly am I a deadlast?"

Kiba was slightly confused at this response and turned surreptitiously to his dog, Akamaru, for support. Akamaru made a tiny growling noise, which seemed to restore the loud boy's confidence. "You failed the genin exam!" Kiba said. "You were the only one to fail! _That's_ what makes you the deadlast!"

Oscar, who was still standing beside Naruto, turned to his friend, frowning. "You failed the exam, Naruto? I thought you passed with flying colors."

As the blonde boy turned toward the dark-haired one, he caught Oscar giving him a tiny nod. "You're right." Naruto said,"I'm not sure who Kiba is thinking of, but it can't be me. I passed the genin test and got my headband yesterday just like everyone else, see?" He tapped his forehead protector. Obviously defeated, Kiba slid down into his seat and glowered.

"Come," Oscar said imperiously. He took hold of Naruto's upper arm and led him up the aisle to the back row, where he sat his friend right next to Hinata. Though Naruto did not seem to be looking, Oscar saw the Hyuuga heiress' face redden as she looked away.

After a minute or so of waiting for Iruka to turn up, Oscar took a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket, smoothed it out, and began drawing. Peering over the shorter boy's shoulder, Naruto saw that Oscar was actually sketching out strings of crude little stick figures, each of them engaged in a different task. Several were fighting each other, some were doing target practice using the back of another one's head, a few danced or preformed gymnastics, while one little one appeared to be setting a trap in the bottom right-hand corner.

Naruto only tore his eyes away when Oscar set down his pencil and slipped the sheet back into his pocket. His eyes flicked to the front of the room the see Iruka quietly closing the door behind him. Once he had everyone's attention, Iruka began to give his usual spiel about how they were now ninjas and were therefore responsible for doing their part in the ninja community. Naruto tuned out for a minute until he heard the part about being assigned to teams.

"When each of you goes out on a mission, you will be accompanied by your team. Each team will consist of three genin and a Jounin-sensei." Iruka began to call out the team assignments. Naruto waited on the edge of his seat for his name to be called, not even noticing the disappointed glance cast his way by Hinata when she got assigned to a different team. Iruka lowered his clipboard and looked around at his class. "We're going to give you guys a break now, but be back this afternoon to meet your Jounin instructors, alright? Now go on!"

Naruto grabbed Oscar's sleeve as the other boy stood up. "Oscar!" Naruto hissed, "I didn't hear my name! Which team did he say I was on?"

Oscar gave him a blank look. "Iruka didn't call your name. Or mine. I suggest we go and ask him. He may have forgotten to read out a group or something."

So the two headed down to the front of the room where Iruka stood waiting, two students already standing in front of him. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he recognized one of them as the last Uchiha, then he brightened as he realized that the other one was Sakura.

Iruka seemed to be waiting for the other two boys, so they hurried over to the small group.

"What's going on Iruka-sensei?" Sakura was asking in a slightly panicky voice. "Neither Sasuke nor I were assigned to a team. Did you forget one? What's going on?"

Iruka surveyed the four of them. "I didn't forget to read out a team, I just thought it better to explain to you personally. As you know, all genin teams consist of four members: three genin and a Jounin. And, until last night, this would have been a team like any other, consisting of Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Oscar Junomaru." His eyes flickered toward Naruto's. He continued, "Naruto was not recognized as a genin until last night, which meant that all of the teams had already been formed with three genin each without including him. However, when he was recognized as a genin, we still had to put him on a team, regardless of the unprecedented numbers. Therefore, all four of you are on Team seven and your Jounin instructor will be Kakashi Hatake. That's all. I just wanted to make sure there were no misunderstandings. If you don't have any questions, I suggest you take advantage of this break before you come back to meet your sensei."

The four teammates filed out in silence, not so much as looking at each other.

Naruto slumped in his chair, possibly asleep as they waited for their Jounin sensei to turn up. He wasn't the only one who was bored, just the worst at hiding it. Sasuke was in the same brooding posture that he had assumed an hour ago when they had arrived. Sakura had been gazing adoringly at Sasuke since all of the other groups had left with their Jounin-senseis well over half an hour ago. Oscar had taken out that paper again and resumed filling it with doodles. He had finished covering both the back and the front ten minutes ago and had at that point assumed the same attitude as Naruto; his head down on the desk on top of his crossed arms so that only the top half of his face could be seen over them.

Suddenly, Oscar's head shot up out of his arms, eyes wide open and ears pricked. "What is it?" Sakura asked eagerly, "Did you hear something? Is our sensei here?"

Oscar tilted his head slightly, listening, before shaking his head, smiling. "Nope. I don't hear anything." He was prevented from letting his head drop back down into his arms by Sakura getting up and whacking him in the back of the head. "Hey!" Oscar protested, putting his arms up to cover his head, "I need that skull! It's the only thing keeping my brain from leaking out of my ears!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Just don't do that again. I thought for sure that we were done waiting." She sat back down.

However, as she did, Oscar's eyes lit up, "I just had a brilliant idea!" Without explaining any more than that, he got up, went over to the black board and picked up the chalk.

"You're going to draw on the blackboard?" Sakura asked disbelievingly, "How old are you, five?"

"Two hundred seventeen," the dark boy corrected her, kneeling down on the floor to begin drawing right near the bottom.

At the sound of chalk scraping, Naruto raised his head, blinking sleep from his eyes. "Is he here yet?" he asked, yawning.

"Not yet," Oscar said. "Want to come draw on the board with me?"

"Alright." Naruto got up, found another piece of chalk and set to work on the opposite end of the board from Oscar.

Sakura stared at the two. These were her teammates? At least Sasuke-kun was not participating in this childishness. _Mmmm. Sasuke-kun… _Sakura's thoughts drifted toward the less innocent end of the spectrum.

After another two hours of waiting in near silence, the door was pushed open by a man in a Jounin vest. Most of his face and one eye was covered, and he had a spiky shock of gray hair. Oscar and Naruto looked over their shoulders to see their new sensei. They were not altogether impressed, and Naruto muttered something about it being about time.

Oscar took a more outspoken route. "You're here," He said briskly, "Good thing, too. We were almost out of chalkboard." Sasuke and Sakura, who had been resisting looking at the chalkboard for two hours, finally risked taking a glance at it. It was truly impressive. Nearly the entire board was filled with what looked like two separate stick figure armies, each one bristling with weapons. They could tell that a different person had drawn each army, as Oscar's army consisted of shorter figures, which seemed to be arranged in factions, while Naruto's army consisted of a single mob of long tall figures. As they watched, Oscar grabbed the chalk eraser and swept it across the entire thing, erasing two hours worth of diligence. Sakura almost gasped at the waste, but Naruto just shrugged and helped to erase the whole thing.

"It just would've been erased by tomorrow, anyway," Naruto pointed out.

The Jounin nodded. "When you're finished here, meet me up on the roof." He shunshin'ed away.

* * *

"Alright, why don't we introduce each other to start out with." All five of them sat on the roof: the four genin on the steps and their Jounin instructor sitting on the railing. He spoke again, "I'll go first. My name is Kakashi Hatake. Just go around and tell us your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, that sort of thing. You start." He pointed at Sasuke who gave one of his trademark scowls.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I wouldn't exactly say I have likes or dislikes-"

"Because you find everyone and everything annoying," Oscar chipped in.

Sasuke treated him to an extra serving of glare. "Yes," He conceded. "I suppose training to get stronger would be my hobby, if you can call it that. Lastly, my lifelong ambition has been to kill…a certain man." Sasuke sat back unsmiling, perhaps to enjoy the silence he had created.

"What then?" Sasuke's head jerked toward Naruto.

"What?"

"What will you do after you kill that certain man? Where will you go?"

Sasuke dropped his head guardedly, "It's none of your concern."

"No. It's your concern. If the only thing you're focusing on now is that, you're going have one hell of a time bringing your life around to normal once you're done." Oscar was impressed with Naruto. Clearly the blonde had been thinking about what he had said about Sasuke that first time they had talked.

Kakashi hastened to move the introductions along before Sasuke achieved his ambition of homicide a little early. He pointed at Sakura, "Your turn."

Sakura cast a thoroughly soppy look at Sasuke's menacing profile. "My name is Sakura Haruno," She began, "My likes include Sasuke-kun," She paused with a dreamily disturbing look in her eyes, before she shook herself. "My dislikes include Naruto-baka." She did not notice Oscar nudge Naruto in the ribs and raise his eyebrows as if saying 'You see?' Sakura continued, "My hobbies include-" But Oscar cut her off too.

"Her hobbies include Sasuke-stalking and imagining herself in the same bed as Sasuke."

Sakura glared at him. "Anyway, my dream for the future-" a look of annoyance crossed her face.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"What's wrong is that I've already said her dream for the future," Oscar explained, causing everyone to sweat-drop and earning him a punch in the arm from Sakura. "You should really stop doing that," he said, rubbing his arm, "Guys don't like it very much."

Kakashi, now trying to prevent another murder attempt, pointed at Naruto. "You next, blondie."

Naruto nodded with a bright smile, but before he introduced himself, he turned to Oscar. "Are you going to interrupt me, too?"

"Probably."

"Okay then." Naruto swiveled back around to face Kakashi. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! My likes include ramen and Sakura-chan-"

"Don't ask me why," Murmured Oscar.

"-And my dislikes include Sasuke-teme. My hobby is setting pranks, and my dream is to become a Hokage to surpass the previous four!" He ginned happily. "Okay Oscar. Now you go."

"Alright then. My name is Oscar Junomaru and _don't anyone dare comment on that! _My likes include hanging out with friends and my dislikes include people who mistreat others and people who are illogical. And yes Sakura, before you say anything, I have been known to be illogical at times. But when I do it, I use it where it doesn't do any damage. Anyway, being random and being illogical have nothing to do with each other."

"Moving on?" Kakashi prompted.

"Moving on, my hobbies include tripping people up and weirding them out. Humans are such funny things. You never know just how one will react. Lastly, My dream for the future is to become head of the Torture and Interrogation department."

"Alright guys." Kakashi began, "We don't actually start until-" he stopped. Oscar had his hand in the air. "Um, yes?"

"Can I say something?"

"Go ahead."

Oscar smiled around at his teammates. "I'm just glad that I'm on this team." He had everyone's attention and expressions ranged from surprised to skeptical. "It's like we're one big happy murderous dysfunctional family!"

* * *

Outside the gates of Konoha, a group of four hooded figures presented their documents to one of the guards. The guard looked over the papers and frowned slightly, looking from them to the figures. "Hang on," he said, "there are only three names down here. You need to put down the final name before we can let you in. What is it?"

One of the two men in the group spoke, "We _did _put all of our names down. Two of us just happen to be-" The younger woman of the group interrupted.

"I think we forgot to write down Jensei's name. Here, I'll do it." She took the documents back from the guard and quickly filled in the name, both hooded men glowering at her silently. She then handed the forms back to the guard before they all filed through the gates. Once inside, She grabbed the arm of the hooded man who had spoken. "Seriously Jaitan! If you're going to make trouble before we've even spoken to anyone, I'm going to stop sticking my neck out for you!" She hissed.

The man whose arm she was not holding frowned. "I wasn't making trouble!"

The young woman just sighed. "I don't care what you thought you were doing. Just keep your cloaks on and follow me. Try not to talk to anyone before I've rented us some rooms."

* * *

A/N: Whoa. I absolutely did not expect for this chapter to be finished in a day. I know it's a bit shorter than the first chapter, but this seemed like a good stopping point, and anyway I though y'all might appreciate the update. I know there will be a few of you who are inclined to throw a hissy fit just because I created a five-man team (or rather, four-man-one-banshee-team) but I explained my reasoning! Since in canon there exactly twelve rookie genin, it only makes sense that I put Oscar on an already full team. Just bear with me. Things get better. And I know that I had Naruto thinking about shifting his personality a bit and that this is a NaruXHina story, but both things will be a bit gradual. I probably won't get to the NaruXHinaness in the next chapter. Perhaps the one after. Anywho, I hope you liked this chapter and don't worry, that scene at the end will come to light in due course. So Long! Review! Look both ways before crossing! Review again if you don't get run over!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Team seven showed up right on time the next morning at the training grounds. It didn't take nearly as long as yesterday for all of them to get sick of waiting. Naruto took advantage of their sensei's tardiness by lying down for a few more hours' sleep. Oscar played with a piece or yarn he had gotten-who-knows-where, and convinced Sakura to tie his hands together behind his back over and over, as she never tied it tight enough for him and he could always fold and twist his hands to slide them out. Eventually, Sakura got sick of being told how abysmal her knotting skills were, and pointed out that if Oscar were ever actually taken hostage, his captors would not be stupid enough to tie his hands with a little piece of yarn. All the while, Sasuke sat in the grass, leaning against a post and brooded/meditated.

By the time Kakashi deigned to turn up, both Oscar and Sakura were half asleep, the latter dreaming of thoroughly M-rated scenes. "Okay guys! Wake up! Time to start survival training!" Kakashi called. Though he wasn't about to say it out loud, he approved of his team getting more sleep before he showed up. A good shinobi does not waste the opportunity to rest his body, especially right before an attack or challenge. Also, it didn't seem as though he team had minded his lateness very much, so he was spared using one of his famous excuses.

Naruto sat up, instantly alert. "What do we have to do? What are the rules?"

Kakashi waited a few seconds to make sure he had everyone's attention before proceeding. He took out an alarm clock and placed it on a convenient tree stump, setting it for twelve o' clock. He explained, "You have until noon to complete the task I set to you. What you must-" he paused. "You don't need to raise your hand, Sakura. You're not in the classroom. What is it?"

"You just said that we have a time limit. Isn't that a bit unfair? Now we only have an hour, whereas if you had come on time, we would have had four hours."

Kakashi waved his hand in dismissal of this. "Trust me, if you don't get it in one hour, another three won't make any difference. Anyway, your task is to collect one of these from me before the time runs out." He held up two bells on straps. "The ones who do get bells also get lunch. The ones who don't get tied to one of these posts and ultimately get sent back to the academy."

"Hang on," Sakura interjected, "there are only two bells. A normal genin team always has three genin, right? So if two of us get the bells, it won't matter because we won't have a full team."

Kakashi shrugged, "Well this is already a four-genin team, right? So you know that it is at least _possible _for a team to have a number of genin other than three, even-"

"Even if it _is_ almost unheard-of?" Sasuke supplied. Kakashi nodded.

"Yeah. Pretty much. Anyway, if you want to have any chance at defeating me and taking a bell, you're all going to have to come at me intending to kill. If you don't take this seriously, you're going to find yourself back at the academy before long." He fastened the bells to his belt. His eye traveled from face to face, making sure everyone was ready. They were. "Start."

As Sasuke and Sakura made to dart off and hide themselves, Oscar grabbed their arms. "Get off!" Sasuke hissed. "What are you doing?"

"I have a suspicion," Oscar whispered back, "Something he let slip. Come over here."

"No way! I heard him just as well as you did! It's everyone for himself!" Sasuke succeeded in wrenching his arm out of the other boy's grasp and kawirimi'ed away in a puff of smoke, a log thudding down in his place.

"Amen," Oscar and Naruto murmured. As they did, Sakura also got free of her teammate's grasp and, with a furious backward look, she kawirimi'ed away, too, to hide in the shrubbery.

"Come on," Naruto said, and leapt away from the open clearing, Oscar following. Once they were out of Kakashi's earshot, they stopped, hidden in the branches of a tree. "Now, what have you figured out?" Naruto asked, keeping his eyes on Kakashi's figure, still standing in the clearing. He had pulled out a little orange book.

"I'm not sure." Oscar was frowning fiercely. "It may not even be anything, but while he was explaining the rules, two things he said stood out. Firstly, when Sakura pointed out the unfairness of the time limit, he said that if we hadn't gotten '_it_' by the time the alarm rings, we wouldn't get it at all. What did he mean by 'it'?"

"He probably meant one of the bells."

"But that makes no sense! He said that _before_ he told us that it was a bell we were looking for!"

"What was the other thing?" Naruto knew that his friend's logic was shaky, but he had come to realize over the last week or two that Oscar definitely noticed things that other people didn't.

"The second thing was near the end of his directions, when he was talking about how we had to be really serious about this. In the beginning, he was talking as if we had to do this individually, like Sasuke said, but then he said that we '_all_' had to come at him with the intent to kill."

"Well there's nothing weird about that."

"Not usually, at least not if you're talking to a bunch of people, but if this is a separate thing, why would he say 'all' instead of 'each'? 'All' is plural and 'each' is singular."

Naruto was not convinced that things were not as they seemed, but nonetheless he could see the sense of sticking close to his teammates. Perhaps if one of them tried to attack Kakashi head-on, Naruto could sneak in and take a bell while Kakashi was occupied. He shared this idea with Oscar, who nodded slowly. "Yes," he said, "That would be useful. But why not make a good thing better? You can make shadow clones, right? Why not send one to Sasuke and one to Sakura to try and get them in on the plan? Naruto grimaced at the prospect of asking Sasuke for help, but at the same time, he had to concede that Sasuke's Grand Fireball would make a perfect distraction, especially if it was augmented with a few shuriken-throwing shadow clones or something. Then, true prankster that he was, he thought up another way to add to the confusion.

"Why don't I henge a clone to look like a bell? Then when you steal the real ones, we can give the shadow clone one to Sakura. Kakashi won't know which ones are real, so she'll pass too!"

"If you have an unlimited number of the clones, why not make two fake bells and give one to Sasuke as well?"

Naruto pouted. "I don't like him."

"Yes, and he doesn't like you. But if he helps us get the bells, it's only fair."

"Alright, fine." Naruto stood up on the tree branch, making sure that he was concealed from his sensei. He formed the handseal and whispered "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" With a large puff of smoke, a dozen shadow clones appeared, crouched in the branches. "Okay, two of you henge into bells," Naruto instructed. Two of the clones nodded and followed suit. "One of you go after Sasuke and another go after Sakura. You need to tell them the plan and give them the fake bells. Dispel yourselves once the message is delivered so that I know." Two more clones raced off clutching their henge'd fellows. Naruto turned to Oscar who was watching him in admiration. "You work your way through the trees until you're behind Kakashi. You need to be in place when the distraction comes. Take two clones. If something comes up that you think I should know, make sure a clone has the message and then dispel him. You can also use them for backup, okay? I'll lead the rest of these around until we're facing Kakashi. I think Sasuke should be the one to start the distraction."

"It'll look more natural if he starts it unaided," Oscar agreed. "Let's go now and get into position." As Oscar raced off, two clones following, Naruto's breath caught. Down in the clearing, he spotted Sasuke advancing on Kakashi. Naruto had not felt the messenger clone dispel.

"Shit," he whispered. Sasuke had begun be engaging in banter with Kakashi, giving Naruto a few seconds to modify the plan. He faced the remaining half dozen clones. "We need to get behind Sasuke _now_. Without being seen. He doesn't know the plan. Let's go!" The seven of them hurtled off, being as quick and quiet as they could, arriving in the trees behind Sasuke just as he hurled a barrage of kunai.

Before the kunai had even reached his sensei, Sasuke followed up by calling "Grand Fireball no Jutsu!" He breathed in deeply, before releasing an enormous fireball to follow his first attack. As the flames arced through the air, Sakura, who had received both her fake bell and her portion of the plan, revealed her position in the tops of the trees to Kakashi's right by releasing a hail of shuriken to rain down on Kakashi and forcing him to dodge right, underneath her attack.

While Kakashi was still moving, the next phase of the tightly sequenced ordeal was brought into motion. Naruto, along with six of his clones, burst from the trees, some in the air and some on the ground flanking Sasuke, who knew that he could not hold his Grand Fireball jutsu for more than fifteen of so more seconds. All of the clones pulled out even more weapons and hurled them at Kakashi, who was by this time, well and truly pinned down. He was cut off on the left by fire, was pinned from above by Sakura, and was surrounded on all other sides by weapon-hurling clones. He had already dodged Sasuke's initial hail of kunai, as well as the Fireball, and was only in danger from Sakura if he didn't move fast. So he did one of the only sensible things left to him, knowing that he could not dodge the clones' attacks. He kawirimied, replacing himself with a log and crouched in a tree off to the side of the clearing, watching his students with great interest. It took a moment for all of them to realize that their attacks were no longer pinning down anything but a harmless log. It helped that Sasuke's jutsu ran out a few seconds after Kakashi had left them.

Kakashi was impressed. They had worked perfectly as a team, using Sasuke's specialty and Naruto's as well to pin him down. They had even found a way to include Sakura, even though she had not appeared to the cyclops to be a particularly skilled kunoichi in an area. _Hang on_, Kakashi thought, _That's only three. What did Oscar do?_ His eye darted around the clearing, finally landing on the dark boy emerging from the trees, accompanied by three Naruto clones. _He missed the whole thing?_ Kakashi thought incredulously. Then he noticed that Oscar was clutching three little golden things on straps. Kakashi's hand flew to his belt and his eye widened. _When did he get those? And where's the third one from? _

As Oscar entered the clearing, he held the bells up, feeling incredibly pleased. When he reached the other three, Naruto formed a handsign, dispelling his clones one by one. Oscar handed him a bell and then handed Sasuke one too, Indicating to Sakura to take out the fake one she had already been given. He called out, "Kakashi sensei! We completed the challenge! We got the bells! Do we pass?"

Kakashi appeared before them in a puff of smoke, his smile evident, even behind his mask. "You certainly do pass! Only one thing, when did you take the bells from me?"

Oscar beamed. "I did it just as you were dodging right to avoid Sakura's attack. Really? We passed?"

"Yes," Kakashi said. "Out of all of the teams I have ever done this test with, you are the absolute only ones to pass. You guys really got the idea behind the challenge."

Sasuke looked blank. So did Sakura "What idea-" she began, but was cut off when Oscar stepped on her foot.

"Of course," the dark boy said smoothly. "Although you did drop a few hints. Did you do that with every group?" Naruto looked at the other boy; sure he was the only one who could tell that Oscar was bluffing for all he was worth. Oscar had no more idea what the message behind everything had been than Sakura had.

"I only started doing it last year. I was getting a little sick of genin who thought they could survive in the shinobi world without teamwork."

Oscar's eyes lit up, relieved that he knew the answer, but he quickly schooled his expression. "I guess you'll want the bells back. Come on guys, give them back to him." All four of them held out the identical golden bells.

"About that," Kakashi said, collecting the bells and stowing them away, "how did you manage to have four bells? You know it didn't really matter who ended up with them, you just needed to get them as a team."

"About that," Naruto said sheepishly, "Only two of them are real. The other two are actually henge'd clones."

Sasuke gave a low whistle of admiration. "I didn't know that," he said. Apparently, his indignation at the way his team had jumped in to help him had been soothed a little by his passing the test. "Who came up with that?" He asked. "Was it you, Oscar?"

"No. It was Naruto, actually."

Naruto smirked at the disbelieving look on Sasuke's face, but his smirk quickly vanished as his stomach growled and he remembered that he had skipped breakfast. His eyes turned longingly to the unopened bentos. "Is there any chance that we could share those? There would be enough to go around if we each had half."

"Wow! You can count?" Sasuke said sarcastically.

"Yeah. And if my numbers are right, I am in the presence the second-to-last Uchiha."

Sasuke's mocking expression quickly turned stony. He did not have a retort, so he settled for ripping the plastic off of one of the bentos and offering half of it to Sakura, who was the first person to hand. Sakura simpered and accepted, causing Naruto to mime vomiting behind Sakura's back.

Oscar sighed contentedly and remarked to Kakashi, "We may be dysfunctional, but at least we're dysfunctional as a team."

As they ate, none of them, not even Kakashi, noticed the two pairs of eyes watching from the treetops. Even if Kakashi had glanced in the right direction, he would not have noticed the observers, as they were several hundred feet from the edge of the clearing, watching with chakra-enhanced eyes, their green-gray clothes blending perfectly with the leaves. The watchers stayed for a few more minutes, listening to the team bicker and chatter, before shunshin'ing away in a double puff of smoke.

* * *

A/N: I am truly sorry that this chapter was so short. I think I rushed it a little. It didn't help that the fight scene was so tightly sequenced, which was probably because I wasn't sure I could pull it off. Anyway, I would have added more to the end, just to make it longer, but I thought that this was a pretty good stopping point and anyway I wanted to update faster. The people in the trees were not stalkers, and yes they will be explained, maybe even in the next chapter. I really cannot believe how fast these chapters are coming out, and all I can say is if you want it to continue at this rate, please help my ego by reviewing! Or i may have to set Oscar on you. That's really all I have to say, so Goodbye for now! And Review before you leave!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter IV

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Team seven left the Hokage tower, busily perusing their mission assignment. "'Search and recover'," Sakura read out. "What exactly are we looking for?"

Naruto took the paper from her and pointed to the picture. "It seems as though the cat belonging to the Daimyo's Wife got away again."

"So she hired ninjas to find it?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

Sasuke chuckled. "Good forethought on her part. If everyone in Konoha refuses to find her cat, she could tell her husband to stop sending us assignments until she gets her precious Tora back."

"Tora?" Oscar asked, "Is that the cat's name?"

"Yeah. Didn't you read the assignment?"

"Well I started to, before Sakura took the paper away."

"I took the paper away so you wouldn't eat it!"

"Just because I ripped a piece off with my teeth doesn't mean I was going to eat the _whole thing_!"

"Alright," Sasuke said, already sick of the bickering, no matter how amusing it was. "We need to focus on catching the cat. Does anyone have any ideas?"

"Well," Naruto began, "I could have a couple shadow clones search for the cat. They could even catch it on their own without us having to do anything."

Kakashi shook his head; nose buried in his little orange book. "That probably wouldn't work. I know this cat both by reputation and by personal experience and it could probably dispel any shadow clone you send after it without too much effort. But the scouting idea should be fine. Everyone take one of these headsets." Kakashi slid a hand into his kunai pouch and pulled out four headsets. "I don't have enough of them for all of us, so you four will have to handle this without me. Come and find me when you have the creature and we'll start our other training for the day." Kakashi wandered off.

"Alright, let's start. Naruto, make a couple of clones and set them to searching, while we all put on the headsets." Sasuke waited while everyone did as he said. "Now, I think we ought to split up. Keep in contact, and as soon as one of us spots it, follow it and wait for the others, do not try and catch it by yourself."

"Why not?" Naruto smirked. "You don't think we could handle a cat on our own?"

"I have absolutely no idea about your level of cat-handling skills. However, if this cat actually has a reputation, and if it could dispel Naruto's clones without much trouble, this is going to require more than one of us. When one of you sees him, call the rest of us and we'll try to pin it down."

"Alright." Sakura set off down the street while both Sasuke and Naruto opted for the rooftops. Separate rooftops, of course. Oscar watched them go, mind still racing, then he took the road that ran parallel to Sakura's.

After a good five minutes of radio silence, everyone began to hear so strange background noises. "Is that your radio, Sakura?" Naruto asked.

"No. Is it yours Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn? No, not mine. It must be Oscar's. Where are you, Oscar?"

"Oh, nowhere. By the way, what does this cat look like?"

"It's brown with a red ribbon around one ear. Seriously, where are you?"

The noises in the background faded away. "I'm out in the street in the market district."

"And where were you just a second ago?"

"Approximately twenty feet to the left of where I am now."

"Oi. I've spotted the cat," Sasuke cut in.

"Alright, just follow it and we'll all come and surround it." Those of the group who were currently on the ground took to the rooftops for speed. When Naruto and Sakura arrived in the deserted street, one on either side of the road, They saw Oscar crouched in the middle of the street. Naruto was about to break radio silence to ask what Oscar was doing and suggest that he hide, when he saw Oscar reach up and switch the radio off. Then Naruto spotted the cat ambling out of an alley, roughly one hundred feet in front of Oscar.

The cat paused and sniffed, nose in the air. Sasuke was standing five feet from the cat, frozen in place as though he did not want to frighten it away. Tora yawned lazily and began meandering toward Oscar. When Tora was close enough, Oscar cautiously held out his hand, palm up, holding something. Tora seemed to consider his hand for a second before carefully sinking her teeth into it and biting down hard. Oscar's other hand came out and quickly clipped a leash onto Tora, who upon feeling this, broke and ran.

Cursing hard and clutching his hand, Oscar staggered to his feet and raced after the cat, which was already being pursued by the rest of team seven. The chase ended abruptly when Sasuke, who was in the front, stepped on the end of the trailing leash, bringing the cat up sharply and making her choke and gag.

"Naruto, can you come here and pick it up?"

"Why don't you do it?"

"Because you're wearing long sleeves, dobe. If this cat is prepared to bite the hand that feeds it, it probably won't allow itself to be carried without a fight."

"Fine. But only because you put in the time to find a better reason than 'because I don't like you.' By the way Oscar, what was that stuff you gave it?"

"Catnip," Oscar said miserably, trying to stem the bleeding in his left hand. "Those noises you heard over the radio before were when I was in the pet shop getting the catnip and the leash."

As they left from delivering the cat, Kakashi asked, "How'd it go?" He eyed Naruto's slashed sleeves and Oscar's bleeding hand.

"As well as could be expected," Sasuke said loftily.

"Alright. I'll give you a break. Meet me on the training grounds in an hour. There's someone who approached me yesterday who I need to introduce you to."

As they left for lunch, Naruto and Oscar noticed team eight leaving the Hokage tower without an assignment sheet. "Did you guys just finish a mission, too?" Naruto asked, addressing himself to Shino.

The Aburame nodded. "We were thinking of grabbing some ramen before we do some training later."

Kiba chipped in, "Kurenai-sensei told us that there's someone we're going to meet after lunch."

"Funny, Kakashi-sensei told us the same thing. I wonder if it's the same person," Naruto said.

"Probably. It's too much of a coincidence otherwise." Shino looked over his shoulder to see Hinata trailing behind the group, trying to hide her face. "Hey Hinata, are you having lunch with the rest of us?"

Hinata blushed and pressed the tips of her fingers together as the four boys turned to look at her. She avoided Naruto's gaze. "I-if it's not t-too much t-trouble Shino-kun, I think I m-might come."

"Okay." Kiba turned to Naruto, who was still looking at Hinata over his shoulder. "Who do you think the visitor is?" He asked the blonde boy.

Naruto's eyes switched to Kiba. "I don't know. Do you think he's from Konoha or from somewhere else?"

This topic of conversation lasted until they reached Ichiraku's, where Hinata sat on the end stool, Naruto sat next to her, much to her embarrassment, And first Kiba, then Shino, then Oscar sat down (in that order.) They were still discussing the mystery guest when Ayame came over to take their orders.

"What will you guys have today?"

"Vegetable ramen," Hinata mumbled.

"The usual," Naruto said.

"As if I couldn't have guessed that." Ayame smiled at Naruto before continuing. "What will you have?" she asked Kiba.

"Beef ramen."

"Shrimp ramen," Shino ordered.

Oscar wasn't paying attention. "What do you want?" Ayame asked him.

Oscar's eyes lit up. "World Domination!"

Everyone sweatdropped except for the waitress, who had not yet been exposed to the dark boy for long enough to get used to him. She simply stared.

Oscar looked around, confused, before his expression cleared up. "Oh! You meant ramen-wise. I'll have shrimp, please."

While they were waiting for the food, Naruto, who had finished picking Kiba's brains, turned to Hinata on his other side. "Do you know who the visitor is?"

Hinata pressed the tips of her fingers together, biting her lip and avoiding the blonde's eyes. "N-no N-naruto-kun."

"Well, do you know anything about him?"

Hinata took a deep breath to steady her nerves. "I overheard K-kurenai-sensei t-talking to K-kakashi-sensei when w-we were returning f-from our assignment. I d-didn't hear all of w-what they said, but it s-sounds like this visitor isn't f-from Konoha." She was mostly relieved, but still a little regretful when Naruto turned eagerly back to Kiba to chew this over.

Meanwhile, on Kiba's other side, Oscar was trying to convince Shino to roll up his sleeve, which Shino flatly refused to do. In the end, Shino persuaded a few of his insects to consent to crawl out onto the back of his hand, just to stop Oscar from asking.

When they had finished eating, Oscar deftly prevented Hinata from slipping off by suggesting that they all go to the training grounds and see if they could catch a glimpse of the stranger a little early. Everyone else agreed, so Hinata was forced to go with them, not having an excuse to leave. "By the way," Oscar said casually to Kiba, "Kurenai didn't happen to tell you _which_ training ground we're supposed to go to, did she?"

"Of course she did. Didn't Kakashi tell you?" Kiba said in surprise.

"Well, not specifically…"

"Just follow me, then. I know where we're going." Kiba moved to the front of the group, Akamaru trotting at his side.

When they reached the training ground, Naruto recognized it as the large field where he had practiced by himself in the weeks leading up the genin tests. Hinata recognized it too and avoided looking Oscar in the eye as well as Naruto. The five genin, and one dog, moved through the trees bordering the field and sat down in a ring on the grass to wait. "I guess he's not here yet," Naruto said, disappointed. Hinata, much to her own confusion, once again found herself seated next to Naruto. Then she realized that Naruto had addressed this last comment to her. She scrambled to find a response, unused to actually speaking to her crush.

"I g-guess not. W-we d-did arrive a l-little early I th-think." She stared determinedly at the grass, not noticing the intensity with which those blue eyes were studying her. Naruto was a little awed by the dark-haired girl. He had hardly ever gotten to know any of the girls in his class, save Sakura. And, Whereas Sakura was loud and demanding, Hinata was quiet and deferential. And kind of cute, Naruto had to admit. He pulled his eyes away from the shy girl when he saw movement from the corner of his eye. Team ten was approaching, minus their sensei, as were Sakura and Sasuke. Those already seated on the grass scooted back to make room in the ring for the five newcomers.

As he sat down, Shikamaru remarked, "I guess we're all in for the same surprise. No chance he's here yet, is there?"

"Well, actually…" an unfamiliar voice came out of the trees that bordered the field. Naruto and Hinata almost fell over when they spun around to face the voices that had come from behind them. Two people emerged from the trees, each an identical copy of the other. Each had the same gray eyes and wore the same kind of black bandana sporting a hitai-ate over most of his hair. They also dressed identically, wearing the same dark green shirts and gray cargo pants. Both of them stood awkwardly until Hinata and Shino moved apart to make a space in the ring big enough for the two newcomers. They nodded in thanks.

"Are you twins?" Naruto asked, interestedly.

The two strangers paused for a moment. "No."

"Then how come you look exactly the same?"

One of them sighed angrily. The other said, "Even though I specifically told your senseis that I didn't not want to explain this to you on my own, they seem to have gone ahead and abandoned me anyway. Just please try to understand that it is not easy for me to talk about."

"To talk about what? Why don't you start with your names?"

"As easy a place to start as any. Or as hard. My name is Jaitan." They all waited a few seconds for the guy on the left to introduce himself. When he didn't, Ino asked,

"And what's your name?"

He eyed her balefully, "Complications," he muttered. "My name is Jaitan, like I just told you."

"Wait," Kiba said. "But the your brother or whatever just said that Jaitan was his name. I don't get it."

"Most people don't get it until I explain. I was just collecting myselves. Okay. I'm ready. Here's the thing. Jaitan is my name."

The person on the right spoke up, "Jaitan is also _my_ name."

"So, what? You both have the same name? What's so bad about that?"

The guy on the right glared at Kiba while the one on the left continued, "We are not two people with the same name, that you must understand. We are the exact same person. Ask your senseis for details, it would take to long to explain right now and it makes me feel weird. Bottom line: we are two bodies of the same mind. One mind shared by two bodies. However you want to say it, we are not twins because we are only one person. I beg you to just try to accept that without question."

Everyone sat in confused and shocked silence, until Shikamaru broke it, "I've never heard of that before. Do you mean that you have two separate brains which share identical thought processes, so that one always knows and thinks the same things as the other?"

All four of Jaitan's gray eyes peered at Shikamaru, who was lounging in the grass as if he talked about such things all of the time. "I believe that the phenomenon could be described quite accurately in that way. You are of the Nara clan, are you not?"

Shika nodded lazily. "So anyway," he went on, "meaning no offense, but why exactly are we meeting you?"

"Ah. Excellent question. Um, well, I have taken it upon myself to request permission from your senseis as well as the Hokage, and they have agreed to allow me to assist in your shinobi training. If you'll have me, that is." The two pairs of eyes stared anxiously around the circle of genin. "What do you think? Are you willing to try it?"

After a moment's dubious silence, Shino asked, "What exactly will you be teaching us?"

"While I don't claim to be a master of anything specifically, I do have a basic understanding of all of the elements, my specialties being fire and lighting. I also have a wide array of Justus and chakra control exercises, in addition to some knowledge in the areas of tai- and genjutsu as well as sealing. My knowledge on poisons is slightly lacking, but I think that it's almost made up for by my medical knowledge. Out of all of those, I have enough to teach to last a good while."

Most of the genin were astonished not so much at the list, but more at the apologetic eager-to-please voice that he recounted it in.

"Whoa," Naruto said, about summing up the feelings of the group. "And you want to teach us all of that stuff?"

"Well, if you're willing to learn it from me…"

"I have no objections." Shino turned his head, studying everyone's faces. "Does anyone mind at all?" There was a chorus of 'no's.

Both of Jaitan's faces split into identical relieved grins and the tension left his bodies. "Great! I think perhaps we should start tomorrow, now that-" The body on the right stopped talking abruptly, biting his lip. The one on the left looked slightly ashamed.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked.

"I was so not looking forward to talking about my selves that I forgot to have you go around and say your names. Do you think you could do that before we leave? Then we can come back here tomorrow at, say, eleven o'clock?" They all obligingly went around the circle saying their names and even Akamaru got an introduction, because Jaitan specifically asked.

When they all got up to leave, Naruto unconsciously found his eyes sliding around to study Hinata, seeking her reaction to the new turn of events. She looked slightly surprised, but not in a bad way. Naruto could tell that she had every intention of taking advantage of the new training program, as was he, in fact. It occurred to Naruto that the ten of them would most likely be training alongside each other. Perhaps this could be turned into an excuse to get to know Hinata a little better.

* * *

A/N: Ahh! The NaruHinaness begins! It took its sweet time.

I know that Jaitan was really abrupt and incomplete with his explanation, so if you want to get a better sense of his condition, check out his bio on my author page. I apologize if this chapter wasn't quite as funny as the others, but I had to get this stuff out of the way before I could begin some of the other stuff that I have planned. If you have any questions, feel free to include them in the Review that I am sure you will submit when you are finished reading this. That's all for now. Praise the log! Submit reviews! Submit reviews praising the log!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter V

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

The next morning, Oscar crawled trough the tiny door in the wall, trying not to lean on his left hand, which he had wrapped up after Tora had bitten him. He found that he preferred the tiny door to the ones in the hall, for some reason. He sat up and watched his friend calmly.

Naruto was being indecisive once again. He had never had a problem with his own choice of clothes in the past, but that was when it was Sakura whose good side he had wanted to be on. Though not quite as hideous as his own orange jumpsuit, Sakura's red dress and pink hair gave a no less flamboyant display. Now that Naruto actually came to think about his own clothes, he was sure that it was time for a change. The trouble was, he didn't have any alternate choices.

Oscar wondered whether to just lend Naruto some clothes for now, but then he realized that, being shorter, his own clothes might not fit his friend very well. Finally, he gave voice to an idea that he had been cultivating for the last minute or so. "Naruto. Why don't you just wear the jumpsuit for today, and go shopping with Ino after training."

Naruto frowned. "Why should I go with Ino?"

"Because the girl's got sense. She would know where to go, what to get, and how much you should be paying."

Naruto conceded that Oscar's plan made sense, and left wearing his customary orange with a feeling of relief.

* * *

When Naruto arrived in the field-like training ground, he saw that he was not the first one there. Already there were Asuma, Kurenai, Jaitan (both of him), Choji, Hinata, Ino, Sakura, Sasuke, and Shino. As Naruto looked around for the others, Kiba, Oscar, and Shikamaru came into view behind him. (Kakashi was not present, but no one had really expected him yet, anyway.)

When everyone except for the perpetually late Jounin had arrived, the Jaitan on the left waved for Asuma and Kurenai to stand off to one side. When they just looked confused, Jaitan on the right explained in a more relaxed tone than he had used the day before, "You two are in disgrace. You were not here to back me up yesterday, so you need to go stand over there. Make sure you can still hear me, but do not speak." Half amused and half annoyed, the two Jounin-instructors turned and walked a short distance, stopping about six feet away and facing Jaitan once more.

"Good. Now, I think it would be best if you tell me what you already know and what you're various specialties are. I already know for some of you." The one on the left nodded at Sasuke, "Fire based techniques," his eyes flicked to Naruto, "Shadow clones," for Ino, "Mind manipulation," for Shikamaru, "Strategizing and shadow possession."

"How did you know all that?"

Jaitan on the left waved a dismissive hand. "Never mind that. Am I right in thinking that you all know your basic three?" everyone gave murmurs of assent, except for Naruto, who shuffled his feet and stared at the grass. Jaitan pretended not to see. "So, to start off with, why not do some chakra control exercises. You can all float leaves, right? But only one at a time and only over your head. I want you to start with that, but also work on channeling chakra through other parts of your body and keeping the leaf there. Then, when you have that down, work on floating more than one leaf above each body part. Then float multiple leaves over multiple parts of you body at the same time. That ought to be enough to start with for now. When you are proficient in all of these things and have _proved it to me_, I have another couple of exercises for you. I'll go around and talk to each of you separately to get a better idea of your skills, for now."

All of the genin nodded and moved off to find leaves and a secluded spot to work. Naruto made to move off with the others, but Jaitan on the right, who was nearest, took hold of Naruto's arm before he could move. "What?" he asked.

"I know you can make shadow clones, so I want you to make as many as you are able without feeling the drain and set half of them doing the leaf exercises. You yourself, along with the other half, will practice forming normal clones.

"What? Why?" Naruto was not looking forward to his new sensei learning of his inability to form a decent clone.

"Because, while you're ability to form shadow clones is a huge benefit, both on the battle field and for training purposes, knowing how to make normal intangible clones could only do good to your fighting style. Make your shadow clones and get to work while I check on some of the others." The Jaitan on the right, who had not said a word, released Naruto's arm and went off with the other one to check on Hinata, who was having no trouble already floating two leaves above her right palm.

After an hour and a half, Naruto had nearly mastered the leaf-floating exercises they had been set and had produced and dispelled, with the help of his shadow clones, a total of 1,217 imperfect normal clones and 16 nearly perfect clones. It was at that time that Jaitan saw fit to call a halt and to gather everyone around him, Asuma and Kurenai once again being made to stand well back.

"I see definite improvement already," Jaitan on the right informed them. "I think that most of you would be ready to start the harder set of exercises if I have not already cleared you to do so. I suggest that we break for now and return in half an hour, give or take. Once we get back, you can resume the chakra control exercises for another twenty minutes or so before we switch to the other subject for today."

As they disbanded, Naruto's eyes were drawn to the Hyuuga clan heiress, looking unusually happy. Apparently, she had been pleased by a remark that Jaitan had made about her chakra control and manipulation. Though she had been inclined to protest that her abilities were nothing special, Jaitan-sensei had headed her off by suggesting that she move on to the next set already, much sooner than any of her peers were progressing.

Naruto wasn't sure why, but he discovered that he liked seeing Hinata happy, and he unconsciously resolved to aid in bringing happiness to the girl. Not in a big way, just a comment here or a smile there.

Once they had regrouped and worked for a while on the leaf exercises, Jaitan announced the new topic- taijutsu. He began with matching them with sparing partners to get an idea of their current skills in that department. It came out that the only people with a modicum of skill at sparing were Sasuke, Oscar and Hinata, while everyone else clustered dismally at the bottom of the list. Oscar wasn't even particularly good, he just happened to get lucky and be paired with Shikamaru. Unable to use his shadow-possession technique and unable also to get any room to think, the lazy Nara was forced to dodge and block the entire time without getting any time to launch a counter-attack. In short, Oscar owed his victory as much as to his opponent's ineptitude as to his own speed and flexibility. Hinata had the edge over Sakura with her clan's jyuken training, but was nowhere near as proficient as her cousin Neji, not having been trained with the same intensity. Sasuke's fighting style consisted mainly of head-on attacks without conserving energy, and consequently tired him out before tiring out Kiba. The only reason Sasuke won was because he constantly kept Kiba on the defense and managed to land a few heavy blows that brought Kiba to his knees.

As Jaitan remarked, none of these would do in a proper taijutsu fight, so he set to work giving advice and suggesting styles of fighting and assigning all of them various exercises that would help to strengthen them and increase their flexibility.

As for Naruto, he was told to make another eight hundred or so clones, set two-thirds of them to keep practicing chakra control, and the rest to practice sparring.

After three hours of everyone training hard, Jaitan called it a day and announced, "Be back here tomorrow at the same time. We'll start with chakra control again and if I think you're ready, I'll start teaching you to boost your jumps and strikes with chakra. Agreed?" Of course everyone agreed.

As he was leaving, Naruto remembered the advice that Oscar had given him that morning. He caught up with Ino as she left the training ground. "Oi! Ino! Do you have a minute?" Ino turned to face him.

"Sure," she said. "What do you need?"

"Well, I was thinking of going shopping today- for clothes. You know. And I was wondering if you could come with me 'cause you've got more experience…" he trailed off awkwardly.

Ino looked at him appraisingly. "Finally got sick of orange?" Naruto nodded fervently. "Alright, then. I'm free now. You want to go?" Naruto did want to go. The sooner he could ditch the jumpsuit the better.

* * *

Naruto returned to his apartment building several hours later laden with clothes, all of them practical and good-looking. He went upstairs to change immediately and to hang up the new clothes in the closet.

After listening to the incessant rustlings of shopping bags from the next room for almost half an hour, Oscar finally galvanized himself enough to get up from where he was sitting and doodling and see what all the fuss was about. He raised his eyebrows and smiled when he saw Naruto tying his headband back on and dressed in a black shirt and tan cargo pants. It suited him far better than the jumpsuits ever had. Oscar gave a low whistle.

Naruto whirled around, fingers fumbling to strap on his old kunai pouch. When he saw his friend, his shoulders slumped in relief. Then he looked annoyed. "Oh damn. You've just reminded me what I forgot to get today."

"What was it?"

"A lock for this side of that little door."

Oscar pouted. "Mean. I just came to ask you to _stop_ _rustling those log-damn bags. _I can hear it even through the walls." As Naruto nodded and opened his mouth to say he would stop in a minute, the shorter boy happened to feel a draft. He looked over to see the window open. Oscar's eyes went wide and he scrambled across the floor to bang the window shut. "Are you crazy?" he hissed, "You almost let all of the buzzards out! I've been cultivating those seaweed plants for months! What were you thinking?"

Naruto had long ago given up trying to understand Oscar when he was in this mood, so he just shrugged. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking straight."

"I'll say you weren't," Oscar said. "Huh! As if I'd ever knit a scarf for you. All of my wires go to the hungry cats, don't ask me what they do with them. I think they make them out of dust bunnies. I mean, have you ever considered the true effects of a high tide on the minds of alligators? All those suitcases. It's very unhealthy." Oscar froze, mid-ramble. "I need to go annoy someone else. I think I'll go find Shikamaru." And with that, he stood up and left the room via the door to the hall.

Naruto stood very still, wondering whether to let out a really piercing yell, but finally decided against it. But perhaps he would go and set a prank on the ANBU. They were well overdue for another one. Perhaps if he filled their spare kunai pouches with glue instead of knives… Naruto stopped. No, that was a prank for another day. Though today was almost over, he felt that what he needed more than being chased through the streets of Konoha by hordes of angry high-level shinobi was the company of other humans. He toyed with the idea of seeking out Kiba before deciding against it. Though they may on occasion have a civil conversation, the Inuzuka's alpha mentality went at odds with Naruto's own leadership tendencies. Naruto needed someone a little quieter to talk to just now, someone whom he would not have to compete with to get a word in edgewise. As he reviewed his options, an idea crept softly into his mind. He hadn't gotten to speak to Hinata at all during training that day, so perhaps he could do that now. But what would he talk about? At that, his planning skills gave out. _I'm sure I'll think of something.

* * *

_

Naruto finally found Hinata sitting on a park bench all by herself. She was absentmindedly feeding the pigeons, thinking hard about something else, a frown on her face. At the sight of that face, Naruto's mind stalled. He was suddenly very aware of what a beautiful person he had chosen to talk to while as the same time, horribly aware that he had nothing to talk about. Maybe he could talk about training...

At that moment, Hinata swung her head, eyes following a white pigeon, and spotted Naruto watching her. She gave a little "Eep!" went bright red and scattered far too much seed so that she was instantly swamped in jostling wings and feathers. She dropped her eyes in a very endearing way. "H-hello N-naruto-kun. I D-didn't n-notice you s-standing there." Naruto somehow knew that if she were not clutching the bag of seed, her fingertips would be pressed together. He took the initiative and walked over to her, wading through pigeons, and sat down.

She turned her face away from his, biting her lip, though she was positively glowing on the inside.

They didn't say anything until Hinata, despising herself as soon as she did, broke the silence. "I-is there s-something th-that you n-needed, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto didn't speak for a moment, causing Hinata's heart to give a little jolt. Then he turned and gave her a quiet smile. She noticed for the first time that he was wearing black instead of orange. Unusual, but it could only be seen as an improvement. "I just wanted to talk to you," Naruto said. "But I seem to have forgotten what to say. Why don't you start? Tell me about your life."

"You d-don't r-really w-want to hear-" Hinata stopped, feeling as if her contradiction would drive him away. When he did nothing but perhaps lean in a little closer to hear her quiet voice, she decided that perhaps he did want to know. Voice stammering and wobbling with shock, she proceeded to spill her life story into his lap. He watched her fondly, noting how her stutter seemed to improve the longer she talked. Hinata couldn't help it, but she began to cry a little as she spoke, mortified in case he should think her a baby. But Naruto thought no such thing. As she began to go into detail about the aftermath of her kidnapping, about how her cousin had hated her and how the elders had shunned her and how her father had lavished all of his affection and advice on her sister, she discovered that the blonde boy had been edging slowly toward her along the bench. And then he put his arms around her, still listening sympathetically and not interrupting. It was too much for Hinata. As she finished her story, the tears poured faster and she sobbed and gasped, not talking, the bird seed lying forgotten on the grass. She put her hands to her wet face and leaned against the boy who was rocking her gently, making soothing noises and telling her that she would be alright. And she knew that everything _would_ be alright, and she tried to tell him so, because she now had the only thing she had ever wanted. Eventually, the flow of tears eased and the only remainders were the shudders that wracked her body. And still he held her.

Naruto was sure that he could never put his feelings into words. His hatred for the people who had tortured this beautiful girl and did not deserve to have her. But his harsh feelings took a back seat just now to the gentleness and love that he needed to give her. It was a truly unique feeling, the feel of her, the smell of her hair and the feelings of confusion and mistreatment and contentment that seeped from under the hands that still covered her face. He knew that he should leave soon, but he also knew that he was needed here more than he was needed anywhere else in the world. It was such a fragile thing, that when he tried to take his arms from around her to take hold of her hands, she gasped and held his arms in place around her. He rested his head on top of hers and she buried her face in his shoulder. He did not leave her until it began to get dark and she sighed that her father's people would begin to look for her soon. Naruto was not willing to release her back into the care of her family, but knew that, for the time being at least, there was no alternative.

* * *

A/N: I'm not sure what needs to be said after that. I never expected to write a scene like that one at all, but I'm glad I did. If you absolutely lovelovelove NaruHina, please review.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter VI

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

It actually took a week and a half for Jaitan to be satisfied that they were ready to learn how to boost their strikes with chakra. In the mornings, they practiced chakra control with the many leaf exercises that he had thought up.

The harder set was insanely difficult for someone like Naruto, whose chakra control was erratic at best. Jaitan had some of his shadow clones doing leaf exercises the entire time to try and make up for it and improve Naruto's control. Apart from the ones he had already given to them on the first day, the leaf exercises included moving the leaf from one part of your body to another (usually sliding it along your arm), which was extremely fidgety and aggravating work. At first, Jaitan let them use their hands to push the leaves, but after a few days, he told them to do it without pushing. They had to float the leaf above their elbow, something that all of them could do with varying degrees of success, and then slowly channel chakra to a spot on their forearm directly adjacent to their elbow, then tilt the flow of chakra from their elbow so the leaf floated forward and inch of so and was floating above the adjacent spot, then they had to cut the chakra to their elbow and repeat from the new spot on their forearm. Needless to say, there was much swearing on the day that Jaitan introduced that one.

Another one of Jaitan's fiendish control exercises was to float a leaf above your hand as usual, using you chakra to keep it off of your palm. Then slowly flip your hand over, constantly moving your steam of chakra around the edge of your hand as you flipped it until your hand was palm-down and the leaf was floating over the back of your hand. Something else that Jaitan seemed to pleasure in was interrupting his students while they were having trouble. He might throw a kunai at them, forcing them to move and try to float leaves at the same time, or strike up a conversation with them, making them use their minds in two places at once. Sakura, for example, was rather efficient with the easier leaf-floating exercises, and she had even mastered how to dodge the kunai without allowing her leaf to fall, but she still began to have trouble whenever her sensei tried to talk to her while she was leaf-floating. Therefore, she got used to dashing away whenever she saw Jaitan approaching out of the corner of her eye, still concentrating for all she was worth.

Naruto was still also being made to practice the clone jutsu. He was making progress, as he could now make more than one at a time and they would stand one their own, looking a little disheveled. Jaitan had finally explained why he had wanted Naruto to master clones on top of his abilities with shadow-clones.

"For one thing, it's an excellent chakra control exercise for you to work on, which the log alone knows you need," Naruto squirmed a little and wished that his sensei was not so low on tact. Jaitan continued, "For another thing, it makes for an excellent battle and distraction tactic. Make a couple of normal clones and mix them into a crowd of shadow clones. The shadow clones land a few hits, but when your opponent goes to dispel them, they kawirimi with an intangible clone with cannot be dispelled in that way. It conserves chakra because you don't have to constantly replace shadow clones, and it also confuses your opponent, possibly enough to show an opening. Finally, you yourself can hide in the mass and kawirimi with the normal clones if you're in danger and the enemy won't be any the wiser about which is the real one. Of course, you'll have to practice kawirimi'ing with normal clones once you have them down."

Naruto could definitely see the sense in this thinking, so he resolved to have his shadow clones practice making normal clones even outside of team practice.

In that week and a half, Naruto and Hinata had not really spoken again outside of training. Everyone who listened to her noticed that Hinata's stutter, while still pretty bad with anyone else, seemed to ease a little when she said something to the blonde boy, as if she were almost sure of her standing with him, even if she wasn't sure of much else. Not even Oscar brought it up, much to Naruto's secret relief. He wasn't ready to talk about it yet.

After the first day, when Kakashi had shown up his customary three hours late, he had realized that he was missing most of the training. So he took to showing up only about forty-five minutes late, much to Jaitan's displeasure. Kakashi watched Sasuke spar with Oscar, Naruto's thousand clones practicing leaf floating exercises, and noted that Sakura was able to make her leaves float for just a little bit longer every time she tried. He quietly went away in the second week and came back with some papers, which he passed out to team seven.

Naruto stared blankly at the mission assignment. He registered that it was a C-rank, Protection and Escort detail. He looked up at the lazy Jounin. "You think we're ready for a C-rank mission already?"

Sasuke and Sakura stared at Naruto. They had been shocked when he turned up last week without his customary jumpsuit, but this was even more surprising. "Hey dobe," Sasuke growled, "What happened? I thought you would be over the moon about getting a C-ranker. I thought you were sick of babysitting."

"Well yeah, but we'll be leaving the village for this. What if we meet something unexpected? Do you think we could handle that, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi approved of the question. "You tell me."

"What are you complaining about, Naruto?" Sakura asked. "I'd say we're ready. When do we leave?"

"We'll convene tomorrow at the Hokage tower to meet the customer and leave the day after. That should give you enough time to pack and get ready, that sort of thing."

As his students headed off to resume training for the day, one of the Jaitans spoke from behind Kakashi, "Taking my students from me already, Kakashi?" The silver-haired Jounin swung around to see the two expressionless faces.

"They're my students, too. I just think that their teamwork is a bit lacking. This is simply a trial-by-fire to show them that individual skills are nothing to a genin if they don't contribute to the group."

"Remember that you can never depend on things going as planned. That is all."

Kakashi tilted his head to one side. "Do you know something I don't?"

"No. I just never rest easy until I have prepared for every eventuality. Why do you think I chose to teach genin?"

* * *

The next day, team seven arrived at the top of the Hokage Tower to find Kakashi actually waiting for them. Apparently he didn't want to give a bad impression to the customer. "Wish he would do that for us," Oscar whispered before Sakura raised a threatening fist.

Sarutobi smiled at Naruto, noting the boy's new garb. "Well, I see you're all here. Ready to meet your customer?" They were. "You can come in now, Tazuna-san."

A clearly inebriated old man pushed the door open, sake in hand. "What's this, you promised me ninjas, not some brats fresh out of the academy. They don't look very reliable, especially not the short one." All eyes turned to an indignant Oscar.

"I'm not short, I'm exactly the right age for my height!" He got a few 'WTF' faces.

"Not in front of the customer! Really!" Sakura hissed.

"He may as well know what he signed up for."

"Anyway," Kakashi said hurriedly, hoping to gloss over this, "We'll meet you at the gates tomorrow morning, Tazuna-san. You guys," he turned to his team. "Pack heavy. We may be gone for up to a month, though I doubt it will take quite that long. Go on. I'll tell Jaitan to give you the day off to rest and pack." Team seven headed out of the room and down the stairs.

A few hours later, once he had packed everything and knew that training would be over for the day, Naruto went to find Hinata to say goodbye. He found her leaving the training field a few minutes after everyone else had left. She smiled shyly when she saw him and even managed a tiny wave, the blush creeping into her face. He grinned back and went to meet her.

The smile faded from her face as he explained about the mission. Three to four weeks without her Naruto-kun! She was suddenly feeling very possessive of him, afraid that she might lose him to the clutches of some beautiful foreign girl. She hesitantly took hold of his hands. "M-must you go?"

"I'm afraid I have to," he said gently. He pulled his hands from between hers in order to wrap his arms around her. He was a bit surprised when he felt her arms around his own back. She rested her chin on his shoulder.

"Be safe," she whispered. "I d-don't r-really care how l-long you take, as l-long as you can p-promise me you'll b-be safe."

"I do promise," he whispered. And she hoped he meant it. It wouldn't be the first time someone had broken a promise to her, but all she could do was hope that he really would try. Not that she had any real doubt, but he had thrown himself into dangerous situations before.

The next morning, Team seven met Tazuna at the gates to Konoha. "Where are we going again?" Naruto asked.

"We're escorting Tazuna back to Wave country," Kakashi explained.

"But that's grunt work!" the blonde objected.

"And here are the grunts, ready and able, sir!" Oscar said, addressing himself to Tazuna and snapping to a smart salute.

"What about willing?"

"For willing, you'll have to pay extra." Everyone sweatdropped.

They set off. Before too long, Kakashi had his nose buried in his tiny orange book and Sakura had begun pestering Tazuna with questions. Oscar and Naruto talked quietly in the back while Sasuke stayed silent at the front. They walked for hours until the sun began to tilt toward the horizon. Kakashi put away his book at last. "This looks like a likely spot- perhaps we should make camp for the night here."

"I'm on it." Naruto produced several dozen shadow clones. "You guys get fire wood, you guys set up the tents, you go trap us something to eat, and you find water." Naruto ordered. His clones saluted and set off. A quarter hour later, one of Naruto clones reappeared at Sasuke's side.

"Care to do the honors?" the clone smirked, indicating the newly constructed fire pit. Sasuke did care. They soon had a small fire in the middle of the ring of the three tents. A few Naruto clones were making haste to cook some rabbit over the fire. At Kakashi's warning look, Naruto quickly explained,

"It's not quite dark yet, so we won't put the fire out until then. I know that the fire makes us a target for now, but I have two tiers of shadow clones surrounding the campsite, as well as several dozen circling outside a 100-yard radius." Catching the incredulous look from his teammates, Naruto said, "What? Better safe than sorry. Anyway, I can spare them and they can take care of themselves. I'll make some more when it gets a little darker, so none of us will have to lose sleep guarding the camp." No one had any objection to getting more sleep, so they all settled down to eat before putting out the fire and retiring to their tents. After the two older men had closed their tent flap, the four genin discovered a slight hitch in the sleeping arrangements. Since there were two tents to be shared among the four of them, it seemed obvious that two people should sleep in each tent. The problem with this was that no one wanted to sleep in the same tent with Sakura. Well, Sasuke refused to and Sakura refused to sleep with Naruto, not having realized that the blonde boy had already transferred his affections to another. Oscar did not particularly like the idea of sharing the tent with the loudmouth pinkette, but he decided to sacrifice himself.

"I'll go with her." Sakura wouldn't hear of it. Apparently, it was to be Sasuke or nothing. "Well, I won't allow it, for Sasuke's sake. If I let you two bunk together, it'll end in tears, one emotionally scarred Uchiha, and an abortion. If it makes you feel better, we'll lie head to foot, facing different directions. However, I do have some conditions to my sacrifice. _You_," he pointed at a relieved-looking Sasuke, "If you do anything in there-"

"_What?_"

"Get your mind out of the gutter. If you provoke Naruto, I will sell all of your clothes to your fan girls once we're back in Konoha. And _you_," he pointed at Naruto who was smirking at Sasuke's plight, "If you do anything to provoke Sasuke, I will put chewing gum in your hair again."

Naruto's eyes went wide and he clutched his head. "No! That stuff took hours to get out last time!"

"Exactly." Finally he turned to face Sakura. "And you. Not one wallop out of you tonight or I'll fill your shampoo bottles and toothbrush with mud." So saying, he turned and entered one of the tents, Sakura in tow.

* * *

A/N: I am delaying the appearance of the Demon Brothers of the Mist, but I can do that since I super-glued my hands to the wheel. Anyway, the one who lied to Hinata in the past was Neji. He promised to protect her but has done nothing about it. Just in case there was confusion. That's about all except to say that chapters may come a bit slower soon, as school is starting, and of course the usual plee for reviews. Please PLease PLEEEEEAAAASSE please Review!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter VII

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

There were no disturbances that night, outside of the camp or otherwise. They packed up in the early morning and set off walking again. Naruto didn't tell anyone, but he had not dispelled the clones from last night. He wasn't sure why, but it seemed a good idea to have them all moving through the forest on either side of the path. It may only have been a C-rank mission, but Naruto had never left Konoha before and it was easy for him to pretend that they were guarding someone much more important than a simple bridge-builder.

* * *

They walked for several hours, settling into the easy routine that they had adopted yesterday; Naruto, Oscar, and Kakashi in the back, Sasuke and Sakura in the front, and Tazuna in the middle. Kakashi may have had his eye on his book, but as a seasoned Jounin, he was able to be constantly aware of his surroundings.

The puddle in the path immediately raised a red flag, even more so when he saw Oscar's eyes dart toward it nervously. The boy didn't say anything, but he tapped Naruto on the shoulder and then indicated his eyes. _Keep a lookout. _The blonde gave a brief nod, instantly sending a kind of general heads-up to his sentry clones. He felt them close in on the path slightly, ready for action. Oscar sped up a step to tap Sasuke and Sakura. They turned, and he repeated the silent warning. They nodded and closed in on Tazuna, kunai drawn. They were still not completely ready when the two figures surged out of the tiny puddle.

One of them appeared to throw the other. As he came down, the two quickly wrapped the chain connecting their gauntlets around Kakashi and pulled it taut. Kakashi had only time to shoot one panicked look at his team, before the Jounin died, sliced into bloody slivers. "One down," One of the men smirked. The two made to throw their chain around Naruto next, but he had already called up his reserve clones. He saw the chain coming down around his neck and felt the gauntlet break the skin on the back of his hand and desperately kawirimied with a shadow clone to get out. It must have looked odd to the demon brothers of the mist. One minute they had a genin trapped in their chain, the next there was a puff of smoke, and the very same genin was still in the chains. Without wasting any more time, the two yanked on the chain, pulling it tight enough to dispel the clone. As they did so, it left them open to attack from the three dozen clones currently standing behind them in the path. They were set upon by the kunai-wielding clones, and got stabbed repeatedly until the clones managed to find the chinks and joints in the armor. A few clones shoved knives into the shoulder and knee joints, twisting hard and bring the Demon Brothers of the Mist to their knees. Most of the shadow clones backed off as Sasuke began to form handsigns. One clone hauled the two brothers together using the chain to make an easier target.

"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Sasuke called, before blasting the two brothers with flames. Oscar backed him up by throwing kunai through the fireball at the brothers, the flash-heated metal piercing the armor in several places. As the smoke cleared, two more Naruto clones leapt forward, ninja wire in hand. Using a small-scale version of the Brothers' preferred method of assassination, the clones quickly dragged the ninja-wire across the Brothers' throats, decapitating them. There was a moment of silence as the dust settled.

"Hey dobe," Sasuke said, "What was that last stunt for?"

"Well, call it overkill, but I wanted to make sure that they were actually dead," Naruto said. Sasuke could not tell if he was trying to be sarcastic or not, so he let it go.

Sakura emerged from the bushes where she had pulled Tazuna as soon as the fighting had begun. They both looked rather shaken. "Should we keep going?" Sakura asked, "Now that we don't have a Jounin?"

Her teammates gave her a blank look. "What do you mean?" Oscar asked.

Sakura swallowed a little. "I don't know how to break this to you, but those guys just killed Kakashi. He's dead."

"I am?" Sakura whirled around to see a perfectly whole Jounin-sensei jumping down from the trees.

She was highly confused. "Then who- I mean what-?" She turned to where she had seen Kakashi fall, and saw only a scattering of wood chips lying across the path. "A Kawirimi?"

Oscar narrowed his eyes at the desecrated log. "Sacrilege. You must atone through the planting of no less than twenty-five saplings within the next seven days."

Kakashi knew the truth in these words. He did not want to incur the wrath of the Log, so he resolved to pay homage once they arrived in Wave country. For now, he looked to a few of the Naruto clones, peering through the trees, and asked them to past him the Brothers' charred and decapitated heads.

"Why?" Naruto wanted to know.

"I'm going to seal the heads in a scroll. Those two have quite the ransom in the bingo books. When we get back to Konoha, I'll submit the heads and you guys can split the reward."

"Hang on," Sakura said, "If you knew that those were high-class shinobi, why did you hang back?"

"Think of it as a test, to see how you guys would react. I needed to know whether you would react with the client in mind or depend on each other at all. You all did pretty well."

"Wait, High-class shinobi? What were they doing here?" Sasuke asked. "I thought that Tazuna was just a bridge-builder. What gives?" All eyes turned to a nervous-looking Tazuna.

"What haven't you told us?" Kakashi asked softly.

Tazuna's nerve broke under the stares of the five ninja. He explained all about how he was the key to his countries freedom. He was terrified that they would desert him the moment they learned of his treachery. When he had finished, Sakura was highly alarmed.

"Kakashi-sensei," she said, "We may not be prepared for this. We need to get Naruto medicine for that cut as well. Should we go back?"

"No." everyone turned in disbelief to the blonde. "You are not going back on my account."

"But she is right about your hand, Naruto," Kakashi said. "Those two poison their claws. You need to let the infected blood out and get treated for it."

"Alright then," Naruto said grimly. Much to everyone's astonishment, he pulled out a kunai and raised it, clearly intending to plunge it into the back of his hand. As he swung it down, Oscar moved forward and caught his hand, arresting its movement.

"Don't be an idiot," he growled. Naruto had never heard his friend use that voice before. "Even if you refuse to get help, I won't let you do that yourself. You have no experience and you might sever a tendon or something. Let me." To Naruto's surprise, Oscar slid the knife out of his unresisting fingers and held Naruto's injured hand up. Mindless of the blood he was getting on himself, Oscar took up the skin of Naruto's hand between his fingers, causing Naruto to gasp with pain. He bit his lip hard as Oscar made a straight shallow cut across the first wound. The dark boy then pulled a roll of cloth bandages out of his pack and used a length to mop up the blood that spilled forth. When he had it cleaned to his satisfaction, he spread on some salve out of a jar in his pack before wrapping the whole hand in bandages. He put the salve and the roll away again before catching Sakura's look. "What?" he asked.

"Where did you learn that?"

Oscar seemed startled by the question. "I didn't learn it anywhere. I have no formal training in this kind of thing. That doesn't mean I haven't seen it done before." He looked at Naruto's hand. "I would just hate to see something like that be done wrong. Honestly, everyone thinks they can do this stuff by themselves but sometimes you just can't. That's why I brought the bandages and things. Wounds often get worse if you don't have the right means to treat them with."

"Alright," Kakashi said. "If that's done I suggest we press on to Wave, seeing as Tazuna used the old Jewish mother's trick. About his grandson and daughter." No one objected, so on they went.

After an hour or so, Naruto voiced something that he had been thinking about. "If Gatou really wants you dead, he'll send someone much better than those Demon Brothers of the Mist."

"Better?" Sakura squeaked. "Weren't they good enough?"

"They can't have been too experienced," Sasuke reasoned. "Look how they went for Kakashi first instead of taking out their primary target."

All the same, they did not encounter any trouble for the rest of the journey, save for a few bandits who were easily dispatched.

* * *

As the boatman was guiding the boat over the water from the main shore to the island of Wave, Naruto remembered something that he had wanted to ask Oscar. "How did you know that something was wrong with that puddle?"

"Hm? Three reasons. First, was in the middle of the road, not overshadowed by trees, in a place where any sensible puddle would have evaporated by then. Secondly, though normal water is reflective, I couldn't to see the road underneath through the surface of that puddle. And last, Kakashi actually took his eye away from his book for a second to look at it. No innocent puddle could elicit such a strong reaction."

Naruto was yet again impressed by the shorter boy's perceptiveness. They sat in silence for a few minutes, until the boatman interrupted their separate trains of thought. "Damn this mist. We're so close to the bridge and yet we can't even see it. At least we can't be seen by Gatou's men."

As they neared the shore, an enormous shape loomed out of the mist. Naruto whispered out a tiny whistle and even Sasuke was hard-pressed to seem like he saw such things every day. The bridge was an awesome thing. It was so impressive that the genin had no trouble believing that the fate of a county's-worth of people depended on it.

"How much of it is complete?" Kakashi asked, keeping his voice low.

"About fifty percent, but progress should be much faster now that we have your protection."

"Glad to hear it."

When the skiff glided up to the dock, they all got out and thanked the boatman. "Now just get me home!" Tazuna said.

"Yeah, yeah," they muttered.

Naruto was tense and high-strung, creating clones to investigate every rustle in the trees and bushes. Finally he snapped and threw a shuriken into the bushes, nearly skewering Kakashi in the process. When he sent a clone to investigate, they discovered that it was only a rabbit. "Naruto, what have I told you about terrorizing small woodland creatures? I'll have to take away your privileges soon." Naruto wished that Oscar wouldn't make light of his jitteriness.

Kakashi noted the rabbit's winter coloring and realized the implications in seconds. "Get down!" he yelled, just as an enormous sword came whirling out from the vegetation to stick in a tree, perpendicular to the trunk. A moment later, the man who had nearly beheaded the party arrived, standing on the grip of his sword and squinting down at them.

"Show off," Oscar muttered, getting up and brushing dirt off his clothes.

"Ah. So after the Demon Brothers of the Mist they send Missing-nin Zabuza Momochi. The quality is improving," Kakashi quipped.

"I could say the same about you," The shirtless intruder responded.

"In fact, you could almost give me a run for my money- unless I do this-" Kakashi's hand reached up and he slid his headband off of his left eye…

* * *

A/N: Cliff hanger! Anyone who read the bio on my author page (eh hem) would know that Oscar considers himself to be rather less than an amateur medic, but he's the closest thing that team seven has.

About the Jewish joke, I am Jewish, so I don't consider it to be a crime. For anyone who's not in the know, the Jewish mother's joke has to do with guilting people into doing things and goes like this; How many Jewish mothers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Answer: No, it's alright! I'll sit in the dark.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter VIII

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Kakashi pulled his headband up, freeing his left eye. "Getting serious already, Kakashi? But then, I doubt you could even stand a chance in a one-on-one fight without your sharingan." Zabuza said, mockingly. "But this isn't a one-on-one fight. You've got those brats slowing you down and an old man to defend. You don't stand a chance."

Sasuke stood frozen. Sharingan? How was that possible? Just then, Kakashi's voice came back to the Uchiha. "You three, protect Tazuna. Let me handle this fight alone."

Naruto responded automatically, "No way!"

"Do not argue with me. We are in a combat situation and I am your superior. Do as I say. Do not interfere."

Zabuza laughed softly. "It seems you've bred these brats with an unusual amount of loyalty. Too bad it will cost them their lives." Suddenly, the shirtless man leaped, landing atop the water, sword at his back. "Ninpou, Hidden Mist no Jutsu," he whispered. Instantly a thick mist rolled forward, obscuring everything. Instinctively, the Konoha genin drew closer together, weapons drawn, backs to Tazuna. A teasing voice drifted out of the mist. "I could kill you in eight ways, though I daresay one would suffice. Which should I use this time?"

Sasuke's hands suddenly began to shake. He felt as if the mist was laced with the nastiest KI he had ever experienced. It was oppressive and weighty, bearing down on him with almost painful intensity. Sasuke knew that he was going to die, right then, before he had even attempted to kill Itachi. The thought of his brother and of his goal steadied him. He must live through this. It was his destiny to kill Itachi. He felt sickened. How could he have imagined that he would die here? He took a firmer grip on the kunai in his hand.

"Don't worry," Kakashi said. "I'll defend you."

"We'll see about that." The voice came right from the middle of the defensive formation. But as soon as they had heard the voice, all four of the genin had whipped around and as one, threw their kunai. Zabuza was on the point of drawing his massive sword when there were four dull thumps. He looked down to see the four kunai sticking out of his chest. "Not bad," he smirked, before dissolving into a puddle of water. A clone.

Cursing, they wheeled around to see Zabuza standing behind their sensei and in the process of swinging his sword up in a huge arc. Naruto just had time to yell "Behind you-!" when the blow fell. Kakashi did not have time to move, so as the blade slashed, he fell to streams of water. His own clone.

Zabuza's eyes widened as he felt a kunai pressed to his throat. "Don't move," Kakashi said. "I have you."

Zabuza smirked. "Are you sure? I know how you stole my water clone jutsu, but don't think you can outmaneuver me." As Kaka tried to slash down at the left side of Zabuza's neck, Zabuza dodged right, underneath the strike, leg snapping out and sending Kakashi flying into the water. As the Jounin landed with a splash, Zabuza appeared behind him, standing on the surface of the water and making signs. As Kakashi struggled up, Zabuza called "Water prison jutsu!" and a swirling sphere of water surrounded the gray-haired Jounin. "Now we'll take care of your so-called ninja team." Zabuza formed a one-handed seal and a water clone rose from the lake.

The clone moved so fast that Naruto did not see it coming and was taken unawares as he received a kick to the face. He reeled back but stayed on his feet. He waited a split second for his eyes to refocus before calling, "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" The shadow clones attacked in several waves, the first jumping high and hurling down a rain of shuriken at the clone, which dispelled. As the first wave of clones came down, the second wave leapt up, hurling weapons at the true Zabuza. The eyebrowless man formed a wall of water clones between himself and the attack, getting himself drenched when the flying knives dispelled the clones. He hastily formed another wall of clones as Sasuke joined in, throwing barrages of fireballs from the bank. Through the fireballs came more weapons, thrown by Sakura and Oscar, weapons that hissed as the hot metal was imbedded in the water clones. It was all that Zabuza could do to try and maintain the water prison and keep a wall of clones between himself and the genin. He didn't have a chance to launch an offensive attack as his clones were dispelled no matter what he did. Suddenly, he felt something wrap around his ankles. He looked down in time to see the grinning faces of several of Naruto's shadow clones before they had violently broken his water-walking jutsu, yanking him beneath the surface of the water and forcing him to release his water prison jutsu if he didn't want to drown.

He kicked and fought underwater, dispelling the offending shadow clones before rising to the surface to recreate his water walking technique. He was slightly disoriented, but that was enough. Kakashi struck him from behind, causing Zabuza to fall to his knees and slide forward. He swung around and faced Kakashi, six feet apart from him. He stood up, his hands already forming the first of a string of seals. Horrified and already mostly done with the jutsu, he came to realize that his adversary was copying him, matching him seal for seal. They both released at the same time, shouting "Water Dragon Blast Jutsu!" Two enormous twin dragons blasted from the water, one behind each Jounin. They collided in midair, canceling each other out and causing a deluge of water so thick, that both men were forced to their knees.

Zabuza lunged forward while his vision was still obscured. He brought up his sword and swung down, hoping to end the fight. Kakashi blocked. Evidently he had been able to track the movement. The two were pushed apart again. Kakashi began to imitate Zabuza, able to mimic his every move as he made them. Even able to read the lips, obscured as they were by bandages. Zabuza began to get worried. He realized that he was about to be caught on the wrong end of an explosion and dived away, but not fast enough or far enough. He was slammed into a tree and slumped to the ground.

After a moment of silence, in which everyone tried to comprehend what had happened, all of team seven, including Kakashi, closed in. Kakashi had bent down to check the other man's pulse when two tiny needles flew through the air and with barely a noise, lodged themselves through Zabuza's neck. His eyes came open and he stared blankly, before collapsing onto the ground, limp.

Everyone tilted their heads back, staring for the source of the needles. A Kiri hunter-nin stood on the branch above them. "Look at that," She said innocently. "He's dead. Thanks for the assist. I've been tracking him for weeks, waiting for an opportunity to take him out. I owe you guys." She dropped from the tree, waiting while Kakashi checked the limp man's pulse.

"He really is dead," Kakashi announced, standing up and backing off. Naruto felt decidedly cheated, but he said nothing, watching while the hunter-nin stooped and heaved the body over her shoulder with ill-diguised difficulty.

"Well," she said brightly, if a little breathlessly, "I'd best get his body back to my superiors. Thank you again." She put out one hand to form a seal, but was interrupted when Oscar dashed forward and seized her wrist.

"What are you doing?" He asked quietly. "Are you new at this or something?"

The hunter-nin looked at him. "Not exactly," she said. "Why?"

"Because you're making this harder for yourself than necessary."

"I don't think I understand."

"Well why are you taking the whole body? Anyone can see it's too heavy for you."

"How can you tell?" The hunter-nin asked, curiously.

"Well, your breath is coming harder than before, you're standing bowed over, your words are breathless and I can see that the muscles in your wrist are straining. Why not just take the head?"

"My superiors have asked for the entire body. I'm afraid their reasoning is classified."

Oscar frowned. "That doesn't sound right. "I was told that hunter-nins always take only the head of their quarry and burn the rest of the body on-site."

"This is a special case…"

"Ah," the dark boy's look of confusion cleared. "I know what's wrong. You're lying." Everyone tensed, the hunter-nin not excluded.

"In what way am I lying?" she asked stiffly.

"Well, it's either that or your superiors are not attending to this properly. If they knew that you would have to carry the entire body, they would have sent someone closer to the size of the body. That way, carrying and transporting it would be easier than it will be for you." His fingers tightened around her wrist. "So, like I said, either your superiors weren't thinking straight, or you're lying." The girl twisted her wrist, expertly breaking his grip and hurriedly formed a seal. She was gone in a puff of smoke. Oscar snapped his fingers. "Damn it. Now we'll never know why she wanted him."

Sakura shrugged. "No use crying over spilled milk," she pointed out.

"No," Oscar said thoughtfully. "Nor is there any sense crying over spilled orange juice. Spilled perfume however…well, that stuff was expensive!"

At that point, Kakashi's body, which had been objecting to being made to stand up ever since he had begun in earnest to use the Sharingan, quit working altogether. He collapsed on the path.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura said. The four genin leaned over him. "Is he okay?" Sakura whispered.

"I dunno," Naruto said.

"Try hitting him with a rock," Oscar suggested. Before anyone even had time to sweatdrop, the dark boy had darted off and returned with a large rock, which he proceed to club his sensei over the head with. Kakashi moaned and curled up, clutching his head.

"He's fine," Oscar said, cheerfully. He caught his teammate's looks. "What?"

* * *

Kakashi woke up in Tazuna's house. Immediately, Tazuna's daughter Tsunami was standing over him. "Are you alright, sensei?"

Kakashi moaned. "I thought it was just from using the sharingan too much, but I seem to have a blinder of a headache."

Naruto piped up from out of Kakashi's limited range of vision, "Actually, that was Oscar's doing."

"Oh. Smack him for me, would you?"

"No problem," Naruto grinned and left the room. Kakashi closed his eye and listened. He was not disappointed. From elsewhere in the house, he heard a dull slap.

"Ow!" Oscar's voice was raised indignantly. "What was that for?"

Kakashi heard Naruto's voice reply. "'Try hitting him with a rock?'" Naruto reminded him.

"Oh yeah…"

* * *

After a day in bed, Kakashi was getting restive. Eventually, he had to get up no matter how his team objected. "No I will not get back in bed," Kakashi said. "Zabuza may still be out there, and I am not going to let you guys fight him again before I train you a little."

"What difference will that make?" Sakura asked.

"Maybe no difference at all, but maybe all the difference in the world," Kakashi replied cryptically.

"Anyway," Sakura continued, "You told us that Zabuza was dead, right? That hunter-nin killed him."

"He may not be dead," Oscar spoke up quietly.

Sakura rounded on him. "What? You kept that quiet?"

"Well, yeah. I wasn't sure if my doubts meant anything, but if sensei is worried, we should be too."

Sasuke stepped forward. "But how could he possibly be alive? He had no pulse."

Oscar waved a dismissive hand. "A good medic-nin could stop a pulse without killing the victim using certain poisons. Perhaps hunter-nins can do the same with senbon."

"I know they can," Kakashi said, grimly. "That's why I need to train you guys before Zabuza comes back. It will take him a little while to recover, but we need to start now."

"Yeah. That sounds great," Naruto said unenthusiastically.

"Try to contain your excitement, Naruto."

Just then, a small boy walked in, his hat pulled low over his eyes. He walked over to hug Tazuna and turned his eyes unlovingly toward the Konoha ninjas. "This is my grandson Inari," Tazuna said, affectionately. "Say hello to the shinobi, Inari, they protected me on my way here.

Inari regarded Naruto, eyes narrowed. Then, when everyone was sure that he wouldn't say anything, Inari spoke. "Leave Wave country. Gatou will kill you if you stay. This isn't your fight."

Naruto put his head on one side. "You're allowed to think that, but you're not going to stop us if all we want to do is help. If we get killed, oh well. Shinobi are killed all the time. Death is better than running away without helping when we know that something's wrong. For the record, though, we're not about to die. Gatou can throw everything he has at us, but it can never be enough. We already came out best in two of his attacks. Don't you think we might be lucky again?"

"Luck doesn't exist for hero-types like you. You'll be killed if you keep going. I'm leaving." Inari walked out, closing the door with a slap behind him.

Silence reigned. Sasuke and Sakura were astonished at how much Naruto had changed since the academy days. Normally, that would have expected Naruto to rise to Inari's bait and yell at the top of his lungs. They closely studied their teammate's face. It held disappointment, resentment, and weariness.

* * *

Kakashi stood in the small clearing in the trees behind Tazuna's house, propped up on crutches. "Alright, here's where we start training. I'm going to teach you tree climbing, so I need to say a bit about chakra first."

The members of team seven nodded eagerly, impatient to get started.

"Chakra is, simply put, energy. There are two components to chakra, physical and spiritual, as you know from your training with Jaitan-sensei." He received a round of impatient nods once again. "Well, I know that Jaitan-sensei has been working on chakra control with you, so this is something along those lines. What you have to do is channel chakra to your feet, enough to stick you to the side of the tree. You cannot use your hands. Observe," Kakashi used his crutches to hobble over to the nearest tree. He didn't stop when he reached the tree. Instead, he kept slowly hobbling straight up the tree trunk as if he were still on the ground. When he was standing upside down on the underside of a branch, he stopped, looking down at them. "Think you can do that? The trick is to constantly channel chakra to your feet so they stay stuck. Here," he drew four kunai and tossed them so that they landed at the genin's feet. "Use these to mark your progress on the tree. Go on." Kakashi crutched his way down from the high branch and stood back, watching his team. Three of them set off immediately. Naruto was only able to progress a few steps before his feet slipped off and gravity took hold of him, slamming him to the ground. He got up, undaunted. Sasuke was able to run up the tree a good deal farther than Naruto, but it was still nowhere as high as Kakashi had been. As he felt himself slip, the Uchiha reached down and made a slash in the trunk of the tree, marking his progress. Sakura, however, went straight up the tree, much as her sensei had done, and rammed her kunai into the trunk. She then sat on a high-up branch and called down, rather smug.

"Hey!" the rest of her team looked up. Naruto and Sasuke both seem frustrated that the girl had mastered the exercise before them. Oscar on the other hand…

Hadn't moved since Kakashi had thrown down those kunai. His sensei turned to him. "Oi, Oscar. Get a move on."

The dark boy turned a tortured face to the Jounin. "You want me to climb up there?" he asked, a quaver in his voice.

"Well I know it seems hard, but you'll get it if you-"

But Oscar waved an impatient hand. "I already know tree climbing. I'm not talking about that."

"Then what are you talking about?"

"I mean _that_," the dark boy pointed at Sakura, perched high above their heads in her tree, legs hanging down. "I don't do heights. Can't you just take my word that I can do it?"

"No. Just climb the tree and I won't make you do it again," the injured man said. "Go on."

Oscar bit his lip. Then he bent down and slowly pulled the kunai from the ground at his feet. He picked a tree and started walking toward it, dragging his feet as if he was heading to his own execution. When he reached the tree, he shut his eyes and set one foot on the trunk, followed by his other foot. Watched by his sensei and his teammates, he walked straight up the tree not pausing and not opening his eyes. When he reached a point a good deal higher than where Sakura sat in her tree, he chanced a glance downwards. He gave and audible gasp and scurried out onto the nearest branch, griping it with arms and legs. He rammed the kunai into the branch in order to cling harder. "Can I come down now?" he asked shakily.

"Sure. I'm convinced," Kakashi said. "You can come down."

There was a silence. "I can't."

Kakashi sighed. "Sakura, can you help Oscar out?"

Sakura stood up on her branch and walked out to the end. With a leap, she landed on a branch on Oscar's tree and walked briskly up the trunk to where her teammate sat, huddled. Naruto did not exactly see how Sakura got Oscar down, as he was too intent on getting higher on his own tree than Sasuke. He gathered from his brief spells on the ground, that it involved much hysterical, illogical argument and many reassurances. He pressed on with his own training.

* * *

A/N: arg! school starts tomorrow! Anyway, I think this was an okay stopping point, as I wanted to get this updated today after taking yesterday off. For any of you who have seen that movie Galaxy Quest, I hope you recognized the line I used about the rock. Log I love that movie!

PLEASE HANG IN THERE! THIS FIC WILL GET MUCH LESS BORING AND MORE FUNNY AFTER WAVE ARC! I PROMISE!

In other news, yes Oscar is afraid of heights. Also, I'm afraid that I didn't use that whole clever thing with Naruto henge'ing into a giant shuriken and having Sasuke throw him. Sorry 'bout that, but it just didn't fit. perhaps it can happen in a later fight... Anyway, I think that's it, so see ya! Wish me luck for high school! And to the rest of you starting school tomorrow, Luck ship and shore. Peace!


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter IX

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

"No! That might be the worst way to properly learn this jutsu!" Kakashi didn't wince under Oscar's glare. Since the dark boy had completed the tree-climbing exercise, both Naruto and Sasuke had asked for help simultaneously, glaring at each other when each heard the other's request. Oscar had agreed to help, provided that his teammates stop sniping at one another and provided also that they listened to Sakura. "She's way better than I am at this stuff." Oscar had been annoyed at his sensei's method of teaching. He was now determined to teach it in a different way, with Sakura helping out.

Oscar continued, "Don't run up the tree like you're using pure momentum to go as high as you can. Sakura, you know this stuff, tell them what the real object of this is."

"Alright, listen up. The exercise isn't about how high you can climb, really. It's about how well you can keep your chakra under control and for how long. Here. Put these on." She held out two scarves. "These are an idea of mine."

Naruto and Sasuke blinked. "You want us to wear scarves? Why?"

The pink-haired girl sighed, showing obvious impatience with her one-time lover. "Don't wear them, tie the scarf over your eyes like a blindfold."

"Once again, why?"

"Actually," Oscar said, "It's a brilliant idea on her part. As long as you can see, you will only be focusing on how the other is doing."

"Exactly," Sakura said. "If neither of you knows whether you are ahead or behind, you will both focus more on channeling chakra correctly than beating the other. Also, it will motivate you to climb for longer, because you can never be sure if the other guy is higher than you are." Sakura was extremely pleased with herself. So was Oscar.

"Brilliant," he murmured, causing Sakura to beam with pleasure.

Doubtfully, the two boys tied their scarves across their eyes before blundering over to their respective trees. Sakura sighed a little. "You know, you could have waited to put the blindfolds on until after you were by a tree."

"No they couldn't have," Oscar maintained. "That wouldn't have looked nearly as funny as both of them groping around."

The two blind boys distinctly heard a dull _wham_. Both smirked. Cautiously, each set a foot on the trunk of that tree. "Okay, stop," Oscar commanded. "Don't put up your next foot until that one can support you. When you're absolutely sure that you're ready, then move your other foot."

"And when that is anchored, only then can you cut the chakra flow to your first foot," Sakura added. There followed several minutes of silence while both Sasuke and Naruto tried this. Finally, they took their first steps. The two genin on the ground remained silent, not wishing to offer any information that would provoke rivalry between the two climbers. The dark boy and the girl sat down in the grass, watching.

Eventually, Kakashi came along to find two of the trees lacerated all along the lengths of the trunks. "What happened to your master plan?" he asked sarcastically.

Oscar was lying on his back in the grass. "Turns out, Sakura's idea of blindfolding them really helped their concentration. However, if they get distracted by anything at all, the focus breaks, the balance is thrown off, and they go plummeting down again. Turns out balance it about ears _and_ eyes."

"Yeah," Sakura said. "We're still using the blindfolds, though, so neither knows who's in the lead. We haven't told them."

"And why aren't you guys stuck to a tree as well?" Kakashi inquired.

"Should we be? I mean we've got the control mastered…" Sakura trailed off doubtfully.

"I wouldn't say 'mastered,' and, anyway, you can also work to improve the quantity of your chakra stores. _Both_ of you," Kakashi added, seeing the resigned looks on his charges' faces. "Why don't you try running up and down the tree? Or walking on your hands or something." Kakashi waited while the two got up and headed toward the trees. He looked up at Sasuke and Naruto, who had stood still while those on the ground had been talking, so as not to break concentration and fall. Sasuke was technically higher on his tree, but not by a lot and Naruto definitively wasn't panting as much as the Uchiha. Kakashi had reckoned on those two practicing for maybe an hour or so before giving up for the day, but it seemed that each was determined to outlast the other. Meanwhile, Sakura and Oscar had begun racing up and down the trees like squirrels. _The nice thing about that exercise was that it builds physical strength as well as increasing chakra stores_, the Jounin mused.

* * *

Later that day, dinner was held in complete silence. Sasuke and Naruto were each doing his best to put the evil eye on the other. Both ate slowly, trying to conceal their muscle-fatigues shudders. When the blindfold had been removed, Sasuke had been livid and jealous to find that the blonde was not panting nearly as hard as he was. Naruto, it transpired, was just as disgusted when he saw that the Uchiha's tree bore slashes several feet above his own. A tense silence filled the air, broken only by the small clack of chopsticks. Without warning, Oscar broke into hysterical laughter, cutting himself off when he slammed his head down on the edge of the table. The obvious, _'WTF?'_ flitted through everyone's minds.

"Uh, are you-?"

"Will you two _stop yelling_?" The dark boy roared, head still down on the table.

"No one was talk-"

"_Not you_!" the dark boy howled. "I mean those two!" He pointed an accusatory finger at Naruto and Sasuke. He tilted his head up so that his large brown eyes glared from table-top height.

"But-" Naruto began.

"We weren't-" Sasuke protested.

"_Urusai! _I'm so not in the mood. You come out back with me _right now_!" The two boys scrambled themselves, nearly forgetting their fatigue. "You too," Oscar said, giving Sakura a pointed look. She followed meekly.

Once they were outside behind the house, Oscar turned to face the others. "What. Is. Your. Problem?" He asked, teeth clenched. In the weak light from one of the windows, Sakura could see that the dark boy's hands were balled into fists.

"Well, I don't get what you're so worked up about," Sasuke said. "We weren't saying anything."

"Ex-_act_-ly. You two were playing mortal rivals all day and I'm just sick of it."

"Well, I still don't get it."

"Think about it. Both of you. I'll give you a minute." Oscar stood, arms folded and eyes narrowed. Sasuke and Naruto cast each other scared looks. They really had no clue what this was about. Sakura went and stood a little to Oscar's right, so as to be out of the line of fire. When no one said anything for a while, Oscar rolled his eyes. Apparently having a good shout and then standing in the cool darkness had worked off some of his immediate rage. "You guys," he said slowly and clearly, "Are on the same team. So why do you each go out of your way to alienate the other? It makes no sense. Why don't you get along?" There was a pause in the second or so it took the chagrined boys to realize that an answer was expected.

"I guess," Naruto began slowly, "That part of it comes from our similar situations. Both orphans and friendless, at least, I was until you came," he gave a weak smile and decided not to voice the bit about Hinata. That was still his own glowing secret.

"It's more than that," Sasuke admitted. "Everyone weighs me down with responsibilities and expectations. I'm the last of my clan and am expected to have decorum."

"Tell everyone to shove it," Oscar said, unperturbed. "You're getting closer. Go on."

"I always thought," Naruto said to Sasuke, "That you had an ideal life. Everyone respects you and listens to you and you have girls following you around wherever you go. For me, I'm lucky if no one tries to beat me to within an inch of my life on my way to the academy." He teetered on the edge of telling the Uchiha why this was and watching the respect grow on his face, but decided against it.

"Now do you get it?" Oscar asked, hopefully.

"No. Why the hell are we out here?" Sasuke asked frankly.

"It seems I'm destined to spell it out for you. You guys have pleanty in common situation-wise but are interested in different areas. Therefore, you shouldn't have conflicting interests that cross paths and make one dislike the other for some petty reason. I really have no idea why you hate each other, but I can't stand it anymore. We may have managed to survive thus far, but your teamwork will definitely suffer if this goes on. Stop acting like children and get your act together and apologize to each other or your life will be hell without me having to do anything. Those blindfolds should not be necessary."

"You act like you can boss us. You're no older than we are," Sasuke said, eyes narrowed. For answer, Oscar simply drew back his fist and punched the Uchiha in the face. Sasuke gasped, shocked. Naruto wasn't sure how he felt, until his eyes connected with Oscar's. He had his fist cocked once again and was looking dead serious. He gave Naruto as good as Sasuke got. Both boys cradled their smarting faces. Neither of them had ever expected for the violencefrom the dark boy to be directed at him.

"Why did I deserve that?" Naruto asked.

"Because you were thinking the same as he was. And because I just explained it to you guys and you really almost understand, but you refuse to let yourselves see the truth in my words. Go on now. Apologize to each other."

The two were rather inclined to be sarcastic, until they realized that that was the whole point. Why were they inclined to be sarcastic? For no reason. The shaky logic had been kicked out from under them and now they had to face the insurmountable task of actually saying sorry to each other. They managed it, mumbling shamefacedly. "I'll take it for now, but you are both expected to follow up and actually comply. I'm not inclined to trust with me life those who do not trust each other," Oscar said.

"Wait," Sakura said as the others turned to head back inside. "Why am I here?"

"I thought you could learn something," Oscar said calmly, "Like how to admit you're wrong without feeling like it's such a huge deal. Or perhaps how to respect everyone, at the very least because you have no reason not to." When team seven arrived back indoors, all of the genin went straight to bed without speaking. No one got much sleep that night, not even Sakura. It was almost dawn before they dropped off one by one.

* * *

A/N: so, yeah. this was a bit short and rather late in the coming, but it is finally here! (Sosorrypleaseforgivemesenpai!) So, i know it wasn't very funny, but i was in a really bitchy mood when i wrote it (a good part of it was lost in this blackout and i had to rewrite it from memory). I apologize personally to all those who object to Oscar playing such a ginormous role in this chapter, but I really could only see that kind of thing coming from him. And no, while he did punch them hard, it couldn't have stung for too long, seeing as he doesn't have much physical strength. For those still thinking 'WTF' over Oscar's behavior at the table before he started yelling, he just wanted to get everyone's attention as fast as he could. No Log in this chapter, but its inanimate mightiness has not been forgotten!

Shannah Tova for those who celebrated Rosh Hashanah (happy new year) and also have a wonderful Yom Kippur. I'll update as soon as my schedule permits, which shouldn't be too too long. I believe that is all.

Oh wait! PLAY HALO REACH! Seriously, that shit is awesome. I've only played a total of two and a half hours or so, but I already outrank my video game nerd brother. I'm a corporal! Yay! Blow stuff up! See ya round!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter X

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

The next morning, on her way to join the others at the table, Sakura paused to look at a photo that was hanging on the wall. "Hey Tazuna-san," she said, "Why was someone removed from this picture?"

Sasuke noticed Inari lower his head so that his hat hid his eyes and watched as the small boy's hands convulsively gripped the edge of the table.

Kakashi looked up from the book in his hand. His eyes flickered between Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari. Slowly, he stowed his book in his kunai pouch. "You don't have to tell them," the Cyclops said quietly. "I'll do it." Tazuna nodded wordlessly, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes. Kakshi waited until Sakura was seated before he began recounting what Tazuna had told him the night before. He explained about Inari's feelings of adoration towards his father and how Kaiza had aided the village. He explained about what Kaiza had tried to teach everyone, Inari particularly, about being so devoted to a cause that you ought to lay down your life. Inari sat through it all, until Kakashi reached the part about how Gatou brought about Kaiza's death. It was then that the small boy stood up, allowing his chair to crash back. There were tears dribbling down his face and onto the table and his knuckles were cut and bleeding where he had been biting them. He turned and blindly fumbled for the door. He threw it open and went racing off, angry tears whisking off his chin. As Kakashi came to the end of the story, there was total silence. Everyone felt fiercely and agonizingly for Inari, but none were so deeply moved as Sasuke and Naruto. Both had childhoods that were not unrelated to the small boy's and both knew just how hellish that could be. They stood, chairs scraping loudly in the choked silence.

Sakura half rose from her own seat, staring at her teammates. "What-"

Sasuke answered her question before she could get all of the words out. "We need to train. This Gatou needs to be shown our strength." Naruto nodded silently, eyes resting on his sensei, seeking permission. Kakashi indicated neither assent nor denial, so the Uchiha and Uzumaki left side-by-side. As soon as they had left the house, they exchanged a brief look and turned away from each other, heading for separate clearings to train in.

* * *

On the sixth morning of training, Naruto lay spayed out on the forest floor, though was not quite as dead to the world as he would have everyone believe. He was not actually asleep, for one thing. For another, he had posted sentry clones in the treetops around the clearing henge'd to look like innocent squirrels and birds and beetles. He knew immediately when a girl emerged into the clearing and bent to gather medicinal plant samples. Somehow, he could also tell the moment she noticed him. Something about her smell or her unusual stillness tipped him off that he had piqued her curiosity. From the rustle of her kimono, he tracked her movements. She straightened up, closing the distance between them in a few steps and knelt down again. Naruto could smell the faint traces of natural oils and sweat on her hand as she lowered it over his face. Before she could touch him, he caught hold of her wrist and sat up, kunai gripped tensely in his left hand but resting on the grass, not quite threatening.

"Did you want something?" he asked, politeness evident but with an edge of suspicion.

"Well," the girl said, making no attempt to free her hand, "I was wondering a little what you're doing out here. Because of that forehead protector, I'd hazard a guess that you're a ninja. Why don't you help me gather these herbs while you tell me about how you got out here."

Naruto scrambled to his knees, releasing her wrist as he went. After a moment of silent consideration of her proposal, he relented. "Alright, then." He watched her hands carefully to see which plants she was picking before getting to work. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki." He paused, making it perfectly clear that an introduction was being demanded.

The girl smiled, remembering the open hostility this boy had shown her when all he could see was her mask. "I am Haku. I appreciate you're help. This medicine is for a friend of mine who is in need of it at the moment. What exactly are you doing in the forest so early?"

"Training," was the joyful reply.

"Why?"

"So I can get stronger," the blonde boy flashed a confident grin.

"Aren't you strong enough already?" Haku asked probingly.

"Oh no. That's not possible. Even when I become the strongest shinobi in my village, I'll never be done training. The thing about good assassins is that they like to catch you unawares when your guard is down."

Haku raised an amused eyebrow. "Can't argue with that logic. However, Is that your only motivation?"

"Um, do I need more?"

"I'm just asking if there's, I don't know, someone back home who you're looking to protect as well as yourself."

Naruto put his head on one side. Pale lavender eyes flitted before his mind's eye. He nodded slowly, the grin melting off his face, replaced by an intense seriousness so that Haku knew that she had struck close to home. "Oh yes," Naruto said. "I understand. You may be right. Perhaps I really have been training for that one special person all along."

Haku smiled gently, "I see that I do not need to tell you about protecting someone with all of your soul and being. You've been there, haven't you?"

Naruto was visited by the image of himself protecting Iruka-sensei from Mizuki-sensei. "I know. I know that you must always protect that precious person, even if they think that they do not want your help."

"Why might they not want your help?"

"Because a truly precious person will want to protect you as much as you do them." This struck Haku as unusual. She herself lived only to lay her life down for Zabuza. She had never questioned it, never resented it. She had always been fiercely devoted to him. Though her feelings remained unchanged, she for once allowed her mind to explore the question of whether or not her feelings were reciprocated. She shook away the thought and rose to her feet, collecting her basket as she went. "Thank you for both the help and the conversation. I should let you get back to training again." She turned away before looking over her shoulder as if she had remembered something that she had meant to say. "Oh, by the way, I'm actually a boy."

Naruto was truly shocked and it showed until a teasing smirk settled onto his face. "Yeah right. I've hung out enough with people who try and catch me off guard enough so that I can almost positively say pull the other one, it's got bells on."

Haku allowed her hair to drift in front of her face. "Can't pull the wool over your eyes. Good luck, then. Perhaps we will meet again." She left the clearing, passing Sasuke on his way in to see Naruto. The Uchiha spared only a preoccupied glance for the strange girl.

* * *

The next day, Oscar, Sakura, and Kakashi-sensei stood behind the house. "Where did they go?" Oscar asked.

"Naruto never came in last night and Sasuke went for a walk this morning and hasn't come back yet," Sakura responded, peering through the trees as if hoping to catch sight of her elusive teammates.

Kakashi did not say anything, simply drew his two students back as a kunai came plummeting down to impale itself in the ground at their feet. Looking up, the three saw both Naruto and Sasuke splayed out on the same branch facing each other with arms and legs dangling down on either side of the branch. Sasuke was sweaty-faced and his hair was rumpled as if he had kept pushing it out of the way. As for Naruto, they could see that he was scratched and trembling with fatigue. Both had wide insane grins. "We _did_ it!" Naruto said, voice cracking. Through his one open eye, the blonde boy watched those on the ground rejoice.

"Yeah," Sasuke was truly satisfied for once. He had caught up to Naruto at last. The fixed smile never left his face, but there was a quaver in his voice when he next spoke. "We'll probably have to stay up here for a while, though."

Sakura's smile diminished somewhat. "Why?"

"Well, I don't know about you, Naruto, but I'm in no position to get down from here without help." Naruto's smile vanished entirely as he realized the truth in these words. He gave a lurch of dismay; just enough to tip his precariously balanced weight off of the tree limb. Before he could even register that he was in freefall, he felt a jerk and a painful grip around his ankle. He craned upward to see who had hold of him and saw Sasuke hanging from the tree branch with his knees hooked over. The Uchiha was grimly hanging onto Naruto's ankle. _He must have the reactions of a maniac!_ Naruto thought incredulously. Through gritted teeth, Sasuke said, "Can. Someone. Get. Us. Down?"

Oscar and Sakura jumped guiltily and swarmed up the tree to help. Because of that, Sakura disgustedly found herself having to bail all three boys out of the tree, as Oscar went panicky and useless when he noticed the height from the ground.

* * *

When Sasuke and Naruto had been brought back inside, both immediately slumped forward and fell asleep, sprawled across the kitchen table. Inari's eyes roved over them. They were both clearly exhausted. Suddenly, the small boy was furious. He stood, his chair scraping back and his fists clenched on the edge of the table, tears flowing free. Everyone looked at him, startled. "Why do you bother?" he asked, voice low and tight. Naruto and Sasuke raised their heads. "What?"

"Why do you bother? You nearly kill yourself training but you'll just be slaughtered anyway by Gatou! You haven't got a hope. It's not worth dying for!"

Naruto tilted his head, considering the irate child. "Is that what you think? I'll allow that you've had reasons to think that in the past, but it's over. Finished. Let go and move on. Your grandfather is trying to save your country. He's almost been killed more that once, and you have the gall to say that this cause isn't worth dying for? There's nothing to cry about. You ought to be proud of these people who are building the bridge. They're voluntarily laying their lives down to make sure that you don't grow up a slave in your own country." Everyone was startled by Naruto's cold voice and harsh words. Inari narrowed his eyes and made to slam out of the room, but found himself gripped by the solid hands of a shadow clone, which gazed pitilessly down at him. It jerked its head back at Naruto, who was standing, wearily unfolding himself from the chair. To keep himself upright, he had to lean forward over the table, fingers splayed on the surface. "If you want to earn what these men are doing for you, I suggest you help in an way you can. Can't you see how much it's killing your mother and grandfather to see you so unhappy? They go out of their way to make your life better and you cry and wail like no one understands you. You're being self-indulgent and selfish. You grieve for your father, and yet you ignore his most sacred ideal, turn your back on it. If you ever want to live up to the gift that man gave you, you'd better man up and start acting like the rest of us." No longer hungry, Naruto dispelled his shadow clone, straightening up and sweeping from the room. A few seconds' silence followed. Inari sank blindly into his chair. He sat for full minute, eyes unfocused. Then, dreamlike, he stood again and left out the back door, heading for the docks.

* * *

Naruto woke up very suddenly, gasping and retching. He was clammy and feverish all through, the last details of that horrible nightmare still drifting through his mind like suffocating trails of mist.

Men missing all but the torn stumps of their arms and with their faces half melted off had chased him. They chased him across cindered wastelands strewn with blood and dead soldiers. They kept calling out to him, so he ran even faster. He ran until he had no more strength and was forced to kneel on the ground, panting, blood thundering in his ears. And yet the armless, faceless men crept closer, eyes glowing like red, searing coals. They knelt over him and he didn't even have the strength to crawl away. "What do you want," he had choked, though, somehow, he remembered that his mouth and jaw had been torn and bleeding in a way that he could never have spoken through in real life. They had surrounded him, whispering though their not-mouths and bending low over him.

"All we want is your gratitude," They whispered. "Be grateful to us. Your gratitude is all we ask of you, child."

He tore back the sheets and got up, still trembling. He took a quick shower, which, unfortunately provided him with dead time to fill with thought. The nightmare would not clear out of his head and it was putting him all out of sorts. It wasn't until he was pulling on clean clothes that he finally realized the quiet of the house. Struck by a horrible suspicion, he threw open the bathroom door and dove back into the bedroom, searching frantically for a clock. When he found it, he stood staring for a full minute before dropping it and letting loose quite a long string of curses. His team had left him behind! Damn it, he would have welcomed them waking him up. He'd just have to catch up. He made a dash for the stairs, leaping down them so that his feet barely touched the worn treads in a way that usually proceeded slipping and falling. He slowed about halfway down the stairs, listening to the quiet voices below, Tsunami and Inari, perhaps. He cocked his ears and narrowed his eyes, hearing a soft scrunch of wood from outside and then a sudden, deafening splintering noise, like someone had just broken a table. He clutched the banister, wishing that he could get a view of what was happening without revealing himself. He flattened himself to the wall and listened to what was being said below…

* * *

A/N: Annnnnnd cliffhanger! So, I know production is sporadic, but I'll try to aim for at least one chapter per week. Yeah, there was a bit of NaruXSasu bonding in this chapter, but this is still a NaruXHina fic!

Believe it or not, that nightmare bit was based off of actual events in the story, namely: Naruto's childhood of being mobbed by marauding villagers, Kaiza's death, and the things that Naruto told Inari the night before. Apart from that, It was mostly invention. I couldn't find a place for this explanation in the story, so I thought I'd explain it down here.

What else? Er, really people? Hundreds of people read this stuff, so why oh why won't you take a brief half minute to review? You don't have to say anything more than ':)' in your review (although actual substance is preferable) but please review! I'm dying here! I would like to give a special thanks to the four or so people who have actually reviewed for this story so far. Four! They are the bestest. I've done 10 freakin' chapters already! Why do I only have 7 reviews? Doesn't anyone care? Doesn't anyone like this stuff that I spend my time writing? TT-TT Review!

So, After that lovely heartfelt rant that's been coming on for a while, just...review...and...keep reading my stuff...and...worship the Log...and...don't kill the lepers! And Review!


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter XI

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

The tiny boat tipped and bobbed in the swells of water. The radio that was lying on the boat's planks hissed, reception poor through the cloying mist. "Are you ready? Are you in position?" Then louder, "Are you ignoring me, Zabuza?" The shirtless man paid it no mind. He spoke in a low voice to his companion.

"Well, _are_ we ready, Haku?" He wasn't looking at her but was making sure that his sword was perfectly secure. It was a second or so until he realized the Haku had not answered. He glanced up to find her staring in his direction, a vague, dreamy look on her face. He waved a hand in front of her eyes. She blinked.

"Sorry, miles away."

Zabuza frowned, knowing how fatal distraction could be on the battlefield. Best to get whatever it was out of the way now. "Care to share?"

"No, it's alright." Zabuza gave a brief nod before twisting around to check on his sword once more. "Only," he looked up again, pretending that he hadn't been waiting for it. "You know, you're the only one in the entire world that I care for," Haku confessed. Zabuza knew it. This couldn't be that only thing on the girl's mind, or she wouldn't have troubled him with it at the moment. But she stood, irresolute, twisting a corner of her tunic and not meeting his eyes.

"And?" he prompted.

"And I was wondering, if I were to die in battle, as I might today, would you mourn for me? Would you remember me at all? Would you regret my passing?" This was the last thing he had expected. He hesitated, unsure of his true feelings. Haku must have thought that he did not want to answer, because she quickly slipped her mask over her face. "It's alright," she said quietly. "After all, I am your tool, and who in the wide world cries when a tool breaks?"

* * *

Naruto flattened himself to the wall, listening to the words being exchanged below.

"We have orders to take Tazuna's daughter on a little walk with us. You would be her, would you not?" It was an unfamiliar voice, clearly addressing Tsunami. There was a scream and a crashing noise, not unlike a table being kicked aside. Naruto began creeping down the stairs again, but froze when he heard Inari's familiar little voice.

"Mom! What's happening?"

Tsunami's wild reply. "Get out of here Inari! Run! They killed your father and I won't let them get you, too! Run away!"

The low, sneering voices of the interlopers. "Maybe we could take him instead. Might make an even better hostage."

"We only need one, and, anyway, it's probably better to take the one that they told us to get."

"I suppose you're right." There was a slight pause filled with the metallic swish and slither of a sword being drawn. "May as well kill him then," The second voice said hungrily.

"Wait!" Tsunami screamed. "If you leave the child alone, I'll go with you. I'll be your willing hostage and I won't hold back my information."

"Damn straight. You'll do that anyway," One of the intruders grunted. All the same, there was the sound of a sword being resheathed. There was a tramping sound. Naruto closed his eyes and counted three pairs of footsteps. After one moment, in which he was almost afraid that they had left, he slid down the rest of the stairs and stopped at the bottom, peering out.

Tsunami and her two captors were almost at the gaping hole in the wall. There was not a moment to lose. Naruto's fingers formed the familiar seal and a dozen identical shadow clones poofed into being. The intruders turned at the noise just in time to see more than fifty kunai and shuriken flying straight towards them. They dodged, one to either side, just to step in front of two air-borne shadow clones. The clones lashed out, sandals connecting to the backs of the assailants' heads. The swordsmen staggered forward before drawing swords and whipping around, catching only smoke on the ends of their blades.

The smoke confused them for a second, as it seemed thicker than usual. Then they saw the log lying behind them. They gave small murmurs of awe, until they were once again assaulted from behind, this time being battered in the ribs as well as being smashed in the back of the head. They gasped, feeling ribs fracture. Before they could react or raise their swords, they felt a constriction around their throats. Gasping, tiny blobs of light crawling across their vision, they crumpled, unconscious, framed by the gaping hole in the wall.

Naruto slowly straightened up, dispelling his clones. He gave a small bow in the direction of the log and Inari heard he murmur, "May the will of the Log be done," before the blonde boy turned to face Inari, who realized the log was in the same spot that his mother had been not a minute before. Had Naruto turned his mother into a log? But just then, he heard a slight groan and whirled around to see his mother lying on the floor behind him, relatively unharmed.

"She's fine," Naruto said reassuringly. "But more importantly, you're fine. Really. You were going to try to save her, weren't you? All that talk about how futile resistance is, but when push came to shove, you decided to stand up for your family." He grinned, satisfied. "I should have known you had it in you."

Inari stared at Naruto, aware that he owed his life to the blonde ninja. He remembered the scorching scorn of the night before, and compared it to the grudging praise he was receiving now. To his horror, the small boy felt his face burn and his eyes fill with tears, which spilled out over his face. "Oh," he said. "And I promised myself I wouldn't cry anymore!" The tears fell faster.

"It's alright to cry when you're happy," Naruto said. The grin faded from his face. "But now I have to go after my idiot team. Gah! I wish they had waited for me! Anyway, Take care of your mother. She needs you more than she knows." Inari nodded, mopping at his eyes. When he next looked, Naruto had gone.

* * *

Kakashi led Sasuke, Oscar, Tazuna and Sakura towards the bridge, narrowing his eye against the thick, obstructive mist rising off of the water. A small breath of wind drifted across the ground before them, temporarily providing a clear view. The genin, Tazuna, and Kakashi drew up short, aghast. A dozen bloody figures littered the ground. Losing barely a moment, Kakashi flitted around, testing the vitals of the men on the ground, putting the one live one that he found on one side, not deterred from his search. When he had determined that the total number of survivors amounted to one, Kakashi took that one and leaned over him, speaking swiftly and intently. "Who did this?"

The man sputtered and choked, clearly nearing the end of his life. "A…monster…" Kakashi's head shot up, eye widening as the ominous mist rolled in once again. He rose to his feet, signaling for his team to close in around Tazuna.

"Brace yourselves," his voice was low and tight.

Sasuke stiffened, his subconscious perceiving the threat before his body. Then he noticed the hatred pouring in on him in a kind of heavy clotted coldness, though his surroundings did not change temperature. The fist in which his kunai was clutched began to shake and jerk violently. He gasped silently, a humorless grin stretching his face.

A voice almost as cold as the killing intent spoke, seeming to emanate from everywhere at once. "Poor boy. It seems that he still isn't ready to face true fear." The mist abruptly sank, thickening along the ground and allowing them the sight of about a dozen identical clones of Zabuza standing in battle-ready stances around them, penning them in.

Sasuke smirked. "You're mistaken. Why should I fear you? I was shaking with anticipation."

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Go to it, Sasuke." Sasuke bared his teeth in a grin and was gone from his place in the ring instantly, returning in time to pose while the clones around them shredded and dissolved into waves of water.

While Sakura looked on in admiration, Oscar rolled his eyes. "Double show off." Now that the clones were no longer obstructing the view, all of them immediately saw the two figures standing a few dozen paces away; Zabuza and the masked hunter-nin who had claimed his apparently dead body.

"Seems like I've found a new toy for you to play with, Haku," Zabuza growled, not even flinching at the destruction of his clones.

"_Thank_ you master! I was starting to think it was going to get boring," the hunter-nin at his side snickered. She tilted her head to one side. "I'll admit that I'm almost impressed, even if water clones do only have one tenth of the original's power."

Sasuke's eyes latched onto the masked girl. He stepped forward, breaking the circle that he had held with his comrades. "Fight me," he said, baldly.

"If you want to so bad," Sasuke barely had time to swing his arm up out of the way of Haku's blade, shocked at how fast she could move.

Haku was equally surprised when Sasuke swung his own blade back up, making it graze the back of her hand and spilling a fine shower of her blood.

Kakashi glanced back over his shoulder. "Sasuke can handle the girl. You two guard Tazuna," and with that, the silver-haired man darted off. Sakura dutifully withdrew a few more kunai, settling into a fighting stance. Oscar hovered for a moment; Kakashi's orders clear in his mind, before setting his face into a look of determination and racing off to aid Sasuke, just as Haku, undaunted by her deadlock, began to form one-handed seals. She called out the name of the jutsu just as Oscar was about to reach them.

"Hijutsu, Sensatsu Suisho!(Special Jutsu; Flying Water Needles!) Oscar covered his eyes as the water under his sandals froze into tiny senbon-like slivers of ice and shot upward. Therefore, he missed Sasuke's escape from the onslaught. Sasuke jumped clear over it, breaking the deadlock and forcing Haku to slide back. She came up out of her crouch, just to feel the blow that Oscar landed on her shoulder from behind, knocking her down again and driving the breath out of her in a small hiss. She darted to her left, avoiding the kick that the dark boy threw at the back of her head. As she came up from her crouch, she was faced with several kunai, thrown by Sasuke, that threatened to lodge in her throat, and was forced to duck. Sasuke landed in front of her and proceeded to engage her in a rapid-fire tussle that lasted less than a minute but had both participants silently panting by the end. _Fast_, Haku thought, appraisingly.

Zabuza watched coldly. How could it be possible that Haku would come at worst in a contest of raw speed and skill? No matter. "Haku," he said, "I actually think that you will need to use that jutsu if we do not want to be driven back."

Haku nodded, putting up a casual hand to adjust her mask before forming a two-handed seal. "Hijutsu, Makyo Hyosho! (Special Jutsu, Demonic Ice Mirrors!)" Haku saw Sasuke's head whip around as the slabs of ice formed around him, hanging in the air. She noticed, even if he didn't, his dark-eyed companion slip in through the gap between two mirrors. Oscar took up his position, back to back with Sasuke. Anyone else watching would have thought this the perfectly natural thing for him to do, but Haku noticed the hitch in Oscar's shoulders, which showed his discomfort with the arrangement. Haku smiled beneath her mask and stepped forward, leaning into the mirror in front of her so that her image appeared on the surface that faced inward. She projected the same image to all of the mirrors at once, scaring and confusing the two genin in the center.

On the outside, Kakashi dove forward, but Zabuza blocked his path. "You don't think I'll let you interfere, do you? Let them fight it out and by the time Haku has put your students out of action, you will be too."

Meanwhile, inside the cage of ice, Haku drew a senbon, mimicked by her multitude of reflections. Oscar and Sasuke had a split second's warning, in which Haku teased them, only throwing a single senbon to graze Sasuke's arm. Oscar's eyes tried to follow the projectile, but it went so fast that all he could see was the blood seeping through Sasuke's sleeve. His eyes flicked to all of the reflections, ready to dodge. "Sasuke!" he said.

"I know." When the reflections drew back their senbon to throw, both ducked, coving their eyes and faces, drawing kunai in a vain attempted to deflect a few needles, before they were engulfed in a veritable storm of senbon. The screams of pain could be heard from outside the cage.

"Tazuna-san," Sakura said, voice tight. "Let me go for a moment." She dashed forward and threw a kunai, aiming for the mask of one of the reflections that was angled so she could see it. The reflection leaned forward, breaking the surface of the mirror-smooth ice and assuming three dimensions in time to catch the kunai. Haku was too absorbed in her own smugness to catch the slight whistling sound on her left. She couldn't fail to ignore it, however, when a shuriken sliced through the center of her mask, knocking her out of the mirror and causing her to crumple. She looked up to see a blonde-haired, blue-eye boy smirking at her.

"Now that I'm here, we'll kick your asses for sure!" Kakashi sweatdropped. Not an especially stealthy entrance… Without pausing to respond to the jibe, Zabuza sent a few shuriken flying just as Haku did the same with senbon. Naruto crouched, kunai in hand, expecting for both attacks to reach him at any moment, but was confused when the two collided, falling harmlessly to the ground.

Zabuza glared at Haku, who said, "I will take care of this child. Please grant me this." Zabuza stared for a second, before nodding wordlessly.

Naruto, meanwhile, had missed this exchange, instead running over to peer between the walls of mirrors. When he saw two of his teammates inside, he whispered, "I've come to help. Do you want me in there or should I fight from out here?"

Sasuke glanced up before going back to examining his wounds. "Stay there," he said in a low voice. "This place is a deathtrap. It's hard to fight from the inside, so you may be able to make more headway from there." Naruto gave a brief nod and vanished.

"I'm over here." The dark and the pale faces whipped around, spotting the image of Haku in the mirror. "Actually…" The voice came from a different mirror, "I'm here, too." Sasuke was bewildered. How could that girl have moved so fast? And without him detecting it, too…

Sasuke was scared for his life, but he was still going to try something. He drew in his chakra and formed a handseal. Glancing over, Oscar realized what was happening and threw himself flat as Sasuke called, "Goukakyuu no jutsu! (Grand Fireball Jutsu!)" A huge fireball practically filled the space, dramatically raising the temperature for a short time before the flames died out to reveal the ice smooth and untouched.

"It'll take more than that to melt this prison," Haku commented from above them, before flicking a few kunai at the pair. Oscar scrambled to his feet, bleeding and swearing under his breath. He stood back to back with his teammate once more, eyes playing over the mirrors while Sasuke did the same. "Are you trying to track me? I'm afraid it's impossible. Give up and I will bind you, but not kill you," Haku said.

"No," Sasuke said, and flicked his wrists, sending eight kunai flying; Oscar, a second late, sent his own kunai at the mirrors as well.

Haku bent her knees, her eyes on the projectiles. She spotted one headed for the her true form and sprang, bouncing from mirror to mirror, until she was sure that she had thoroughly confused the two genin, then she sent a barrage of senbon at them. She drew back, smiling under her mask. "My bloodline is the key to this jutsu. Because of it, I can move simply by reflecting my image from one mirror to another. You will not defeat me, but I will not kill you if you give up now." Her face hardened. "However, if you continue, you may become a threat to my master's plans, in which case, I will have no trouble personally putting a knife through your weak little bodies."

Outside, Zabuza caught the strains of Haku's words and realized that the end was nigh. His eyes latched onto Kakashi and noticed that the other had one hand up, ready to slide back the forehead protector and reveal the Sharingan. Zabuza plunged forward, arm outstretched, kunai held ready to cut out that Sharingan eye. Kakashi blocked…

Sasuke growled in frustration. He refused to believe that the ice mirror technique did not require a lot of chakra. She had to run out! And yet she showed barely a sign of exhaustion, let alone of chakra depletion. He looked down at Oscar, who appeared to be trying to make himself a smaller target be bending his knees slightly. The dark boy's eyes were flickering, bouncing from one surface to another as though trying to see in all directions at once. "Soon," Sasuke heard him breathe. "Just a brief-" Sasuke tensed, ready to dodge if necessary, only to feel a sharp, numbing pain in his knee. He looked down to see a senbon protruding from his knee. He reached down and dragged it out, gasping. It hurt more coming out than it had going in. He felt a tight grip on his ankle, heard the raged breathing and looked down to see Oscar lying face down, bleeding freely from more than two dozen puncture wounds in his back. Apparently, Haku had thrown many more than just the one needle. Oscar's brown eyes were still flickering, unrestful and slightly unfocused. "Don't do that," he said, still not looking at Sasuke.

"Do what?"

"Never mind! Concentrate!" Sasuke looked up to see more senbon flying and this time, they were aimed at vital points. He dodged, but only barely. His back arched at he felt several of the needles pierce his right arm and side. He retaliated by tossing kunai, but his aim was off and they just clattered harmlessly against the slabs of ice. He heard a whistling noise and dodged again, this time getting hit in the back. Nowhere life-threatening, but it still hurt like crazy. He spun around, eyes darting as Oscar's had been. This time, he was almost ready and only two senbon found their mark. He knew that he was by no mean winning, constantly reminded by the harsh ache in his muscles and the searing sting of his wounds. He needed a fast solution. He had to concentrate and see Haku's path. Focus. Dodge. Focus. And…there! He dove aside, dragging Oscar out of the way. He turned savagely and sent a knife flying, following it with his eyes. He knew he had aimed it right, though how he knew, he was not sure. Indeed, out of all of the attacks he had made, this one found its mark. It struck Haku's mask right along the fault line, cracking it deeper, forcing Haku to emerge completely from the mirror for an instant to pull it out. In that instant, Sasuke struck.

He slammed an elbow down on her shoulder hard enough to drop her to her knees. He then pulled a piece of wire from his pouch, wrapping it tightly around her throat. She struggled, gasping for air, but Sasuke stood on her wrists to keep her from removing the wire and she succumbed to unconsciousness.

Sasuke stowed the wire away, regarding his helpless foe. She had not wanted to kill him, so could he really find it in himself to kill her? He was alerted only by a cracking noise before he was pulled roughly aside. He looked back in time to see the ice mirrors collapsing. Tiredly, he saw that it was Oscar who had pulled him clear, and that the dark boy was also dragging the masked girl. "Why did you-" Sasuke was almost too tired to stay upright, let alone speak. Instead, he lifted one hand and pointed limply at Haku, idly observing the long needles still protruding from his arm as he did.

"I didn't want her to be crushed to death, did I? But now doesn't seem to be the moment. Here's Naruto."

Naruto was dashing over, blue eyes round and anxious at the state of his teammates, particularly Sasuke. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Are you okay? What can I do?" He looked properly into Sasuke's face. "Did you know that your eyes are red and black now?"

"Yeah, you should probably deactivate your Sharingan, Sasuke. It's draining your chakra and you need all of your energy not to pass out right now." Oscar directed his next words at Naruto. "Go and get Sakura."

As Naruto ran off, Sasuke sagged against Oscar, who pushed him upright impatiently. When he snatched a sideways look at Sasuke, to he saw the tired, grim smile. "What are you so happy about?"

"Have I really activated my Sharingan at last?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes. I probably wouldn't say that you had if you hadn't. Stop talking, you need to focus on staying conscious. And turn those off." As Naruto came running up with Sakura and Tazuna, Sasuke relaxed the flow of chakra to his eyes that he had not realized that he had been maintaining. He listened as Oscar gave Sakura his hurried instructions, "Don't touch the senbon unless you know how to remove them safely and keep him standing and out of harm's way at all costs. I'll take over guarding Tazuna, so don't worry about it." Sakura nodded and departed to find shelter, carefully leading Sasuke. "Naruto, you fill me in."

"Well, Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza are still fighting."

"Yeah, I can tell," the dark boy said sardonically, waving a hand toward the fighting men. "Kind of hard to miss. Anything else?"

"Well-" Naruto was cut short by a yell from his sensei.

"Raikiri! (Lightning Blade)!" Oscar sidestepped in front of Tazuna just in case, as the three of them watched a crackling aura of chakra appear around Kakashi's hand. Zabuza, almost invisible under the dog pile, still defiantly held up his sword. "Now you die," Kakashi declared.

"Well, Zabuza, is that true? Have I come all this way just to see you die? I suppose it's no loss. Even if I wasn't actually going to pay you, you proved yourself incapable of even the simplest mission." Kakashi and Zabuza turned, the former allowing the chakra gathered in his hand to be siphoned away. Gatou smiled coldly back at them, his amassed force of mercenaries glaringly obvious. He spoke to Kakashi. "By all means, kill Zabuza. Then I can have you killed."

The dogs that still draped Zabuza's frame dropped off and he straightened slowly. He glanced over at Kakashi. "Do you want some help?" the eyebrow-less man asked. "I was planning on it anyway."

"As long as you don't assume anything by it. The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend, after all."

"Of course. But Haku is unconscious and I'd really like to get out of here with my life."

"Well, I don't guarantee that, but you're welcome to help us. However, if you turn against me, if you betray any of us, I will not hesitate in killing you."

"Same here."

"Alright then."

Gatou had monitored the exchange with sneering indifference, before speaking, "You both talk as if you'll be able to take on my force. Fools. I will not allow it. Only you two will die today, and I'm making sure of it right now." He clicked his fingers and a dozen of the mercenaries stepped forward. With a slight grimace of effort, Zabuza formed a line of his water clones as Kakashi marshaled his summons. The battle commenced. After about two minutes of fierce fighting, Naruto joined in but had only managed to incapacitate one man before Kakashi ordered him to help protect Tazuna. After another minute, everyone suddenly froze, even Zabuza, who was within reach of Gatou himself. One of the men had sneaked out of the fray and returned dragging Haku's limp body. Zabuza could not take his eyes off of her. The man hauled her upright before pulling her mask off and slapping her hard across the face to bring her to.

When the mask had come off, Naruto's eyes had widened in recognition. The girl from the clearing! Had her precious person truly been Zabuza? He was brought back to the present by what the man holding Haku was saying. He now had a kunai held to her throat.

"I take it that this girl is something rather special, especially to you, Zabuza. Now, here are your three options; you can either try to kill that man in front of you," Zabuza's hands twitched in the air above Gatou's shoulder, "and I will slit this girl's pretty throat before you can even finish. Or you can surrender, and maybe I won't actually kill her in front of you."

Zabuza licked his lips. "What's the third option?" he asked, voice more than a little hoarse.

"Option three is you try to save your little girl, I kill her, I kill you, and Gatou lives to pay me that bonus he spoke about." The man grinned. "Your choice."

Zabuza's mind raced. He weighed the options. There were really only two. Kill Gatou and Haku would die, or try to save Haku and die himself. She wasn't very far away- but then he met Haku's clear, steady eyes, and knew that there _was_ a third option. Hopefully, Kakashi would understand. Remaining perfectly still, he moved his eyes until he could see Kakashi, standing as frozen as he was. Apparently, Kakashi did understand. His hands were already coming together to form a seal. With any luck, he would choose right. There was pain in his eyes as he opened his mouth and blew hard, attracting the attention of those nearest. They barely had time to wonder about the floating black flecks of ash in the air,however, before Kakashi clicked his fingers, igniting the ash and seeming to release a truly catastrophic raging inferno, obliterating Gatou, Zabuza, Haku, her captor, and a good half of the remaining mercenaries.

There was a good twenty seconds or so of stillness while tiny fires flickered over the ground, playing across the charred and ashed remains. Kakashi swayed and all but collapsed, but luckily, the remaining handful of enemies ignored him for the most part. They were holding a whispered emergency council. Their employer was dead, so no one was getting paid. They had just come to the unanimous decision to loot the town, when Naruto, grinning and standing well back, drew their attention to the large angry mob of armed villagers standing on the bridge, ready to defend their town. Admittedly, many of them were all the more ready because they had found a force less than a third of the one they had been expecting. All the same, the expressions on those mercenaries' faces were a study as they cut and ran, diving into the water, thrashing and searching desperately for their boats. Inari beamed triumphantly from the head of the crowd.

* * *

A/N: okay, things to touch on- that jutsu that Kakashi used at the end was Katon: Haisekisho-Fire style: Ash Pile Burning. It was used by Asuma in Shippuden and here, Kakashi must have copied it earlier in order for my facts to check out.

Yes, Haku and Zabuza are dead and they probably won't reappear :(

The next chapter will probably be shorter and more relaxed and the next few dozen chapters will not adhere to canon :)

Yeah, please review...all that good stuff. Reactions are welcome!


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter XII

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

It was a long journey home from Wave, taking about twelve days from start to finish. The team of five could see the gates of Konoha long before they reached them, even through the trees. Naruto, for one, was glad to be home, even if he would be back to being treated like a demon. There were, as he saw it, compensations. Lovely, lavender-eyed compensations…

Team seven had just barely set foot on the other side of the great wall when there was a kind of shriek and a dark-haired something threw itself on Naruto. The boy was slightly taken aback but pleased all the same as he wrapped his arms around Hinata's shoulders. She was shivering and sobbing, her face pressed into his shoulder. The blonde boy realized that she was whispering something.

"You s-said it would only b-be a m-month, but I had to l-live without y-you f-for nearly t-twice that! I was so s-scared. I've never b-been so s-scared! I thought you were d-dead! I thought you were g-gone and that I had never r-really-" The girl broke off. She had finally been alerted to the fact that she was not alone with her beloved. Very slowly, she raised her wet face from Naruto's shoulder, and looked Sakura dead in the eye. Very quietly and unobtrusively, the Hyuuga fainted.

Naruto, who had been ready in case something like this was going to happen, caught her up before she fell. He held her bridal-style, with one arm under her knees and the other supporting her shoulders. Like that, he simply stood for a minute, savoring the feeling of having a warm body full of passion and feelings to hold in his arms. His teammates were respectfully silent on his right.

Hinata awoke very slowly, believing herself to be still dreaming. It was one of those wonderful dreams were she was cuddling with Naruto… She curled herself a little in Naruto's arms, nuzzling her head against his chest as a tiny smile lit her face. The dream ended abruptly when she heard hastily stifled laughter. Her eyes shot open and she discovered that she really was in Naruto's arms. Her eyes slid sideways and she caught sight of Sakura, Sasuke, and Oscar once more. She flushed red and her temperature dropped drastically, in danger of fainting again.

Naruto could not fail to notice, so he gave his team a pleading look. _Some Privacy? Please? _Oscar gave a little nod and a wink, but Sasuke and Sakura pretended not to understand the blonde and went on staring with identical evil grins. Naruto saw this and gave Oscar another look. This one said _Get them out of here!_

Oscar sidled up to Sasuke, who barely took any notice until, "Yoink!" Oscar pulled something from the depths of Sasuke's pack and held it in front of Sakura's eyes, gaining her immediate attention. "Come and get it."

Sasuke looked at the thing, momentarily confused. "Those look like my- Hey! Give them back!" Oscar, holding the boxer shorts aloft, raced away, pursed be an irate Uchiha and a drooling Sakura.

Once they had gone, Hinata's tense shoulders relaxed by just the smallest amount, but not as much as Naruto would have hoped. He considered not putting her down and carrying her back to his apartment. He decided against it, however, and instead gently set her on her feet. "Come with me. I need to go ditch my pack before I can do anything else. Come and walk with me Hinata-chan. There's a lot to tell you."

"O-okay, N-naruto-kun." She shoved her hands into the pockets of her coat, much as she longed to reach out and take hold of his hand, and they set off walking side-by-side.

* * *

Naruto had not quite finished his story by the time they had reached his apartment, so after he dumped his gear and changed his clothes, they wandered off, still talking. Well, Naruto talked- Hinata mostly listened. Unconsciously, their feet carried them toward Jaitan-sensei's preferred training ground. When they arrived, they found Oscar, gingerly prodding the bloody lip he had gotten from his choice of distraction. He went over to join them. "I guess you didn't get away clean," Naruto remarked.

"No I did not. It was worth it, though! The look on Sasuke's face…"

"So, what, only I'm not allowed to antagonize him?" Hinata swallowed a grin at Naruto's tone of voice.

"I wasn't _just_ antagonizing him! I was also trying to get him used to being treated like a normal person!"

"Did it work?"

"Not as well as you'd expect…" He cut himself off, staring towards the small pond at the other end of the training ground. He raised a hand and pointed and Hinata and Naruto followed his gaze. On the surface of the lake were two people, engaged in what looked like very uncoordinated gymnastics. The three genin went over to have a look. As they got closer, Naruto, who had the best eyesight, was the first to realize that the two people were actually Jaitan-sensei. Both of him were attempting to do handstands while still floating on the surface of the pond. He was not making great headway. The edges of his sleeves and the unbound tips of his bangs were wet, as were his sandals and faces. He was grinning, however, as if he enjoyed the challenge.

"H-hello sensei," Hinata stammered. Both of Jaitan flipped the right way up and approached, stepping off of the surface of the pond and onto the grass.

Both Jaitans dried their faces on their sleeves before smiling at the genin. The one on the right said, "Hello Hinata-chan." The one on the left continued, speaking mostly to the boys. "I must speak to your team about catching up to the rest of the teams training-wise. I taught them tree climbing and a couple more chakra control exercises, in addition to more sparring. You need to catch up, though I suppose you'll want to take at least today off from training, if not tomorrow as well."

"We did tree climbing."

Jaitan on the right blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Kakashi taught us tree climbing while we were in Wave," Naruto explained.

"And are you all proficient?"

"Yeah, actually."

"I'll have to have you prove it to me, but in that case, you should be caught up relatively quickly," the Jaitans looked pleased. He had not looked forward to diverting from his schedule.

"_Prove_ it?" Oscar looked distinctly unsettled. "As in, you'll make us _climb_ a _tree_?"

"Well, yes. Is something-?"

"We'll explain later," Naruto said, hastily. Hinata tried not to laugh. Naruto had told her about that little incident in his recount of the mission.

"In that case, if you have nothing else to inform me of, I will resume my own training." Jaitan on the right gave a polite smile, and the three knew that they were dismissed.

Hinata hung out with the two boys for the rest of the day, even when Oscar said things in front of the civilians which made her want to bury her face in her coat and never resurface. She only went back to her clan compound when a Branch house member sought her out and insisted. Naruto wanted to insisted on taking Hinata home himself, but he did not want to stir up trouble with the influential clan, so he simply gave the girl's hand a light squeeze and said goodbye.

Naruto and Oscar headed toward the apartment building, taking their time and not paying any particular attention to their surroundings. Naruto later cursed himself for his carelessness, knowing that he should have had his guard up. In any case, neither of the boys was prepared when they rounded a corner right into the path of a raging mob. The angry villagers were upon Naruto in an instant, shouting their rage that the demon had _dared_ to return to the village!

Oscar was horrified. His friend had told him about these times, but he had never actually witnessed an attack. He felt helpless and angry. The two feelings together drove him to do something that was probably incredibly stupid, but didn't seem that way at the time. He dove in and dragged Naruto backward, placing himself between the villagers and his friend. "What the _hell! _Didn't you even _think? _Naruto is not a demon! The demon may be sealed inside him, but it cannot influence his actions unless he is injured or emotional! Don't you think attacking him would make it more likely for the Kyuubi to escape?" A very small pause met these words, as no one had ever tried to talk sense to an angry mob. The dark boy made a reasonable point. However, many of those attacking had lost family members to the Kyuubi, and who was this foreigner anyway, to tell them that they were wrong?

"Lies!" The civilians stiffened as one at the back of the crowd yelled. "He's in league with the demon! Kill them both!" These words met with approval. Yes! Kill the demon and his friend, and all who would have the demon live! The people swept forward and Naruto scrabbled back, eyes trying to pick his friend's figure out from the wave of people that had engulfed him. He could barely see Oscar, and for one heart-stopping minute, he was afraid that he really had died. He stood by helplessly, before shaking himself and plunging forward, grabbing the back of his friend's shirt and hauling him out. To his horror, he was unconscious and was bleeding from the head, blood trickling through his dark hair. Naruto scooped him up and ran, keeping to the rooftops for speed and arrived at the hospital only minutes later, though to his shocked and panicked mind, it seemed to take hours. He was inside in an instant, screaming an explanation. Oscar could not die! He should not have stepped in front of the mob. Naruto was the one who could heal quickly, not his friend. He should have prevented it. He should have been ready for the attack!

* * *

Naruto sat out in the hallway, head on his knees. Every time someone passed, his head went up, eyes searching their face for information. However, when a medic finally came out to tell him that he could enter, he went slowly, unsure of what to expect.

It wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. "What's wrong? Is he okay?" Naruto asked.

"He's fine. The bleeding from the head was all superficial, as were most of the rest of his injuries: bruises and cuts and the like. Head wounds always bleed a lot. The most serious injuries were a badly sprained wrist, several bruised ribs, and a hairline fracture along two of his ribs. We cleaned up most of the blood and healed the fractures and the serious bruises. He'll be fine once he wakes up. The worst part will probably be the trauma. It could have been so much worse."

"Thank you," Naruto said gloomily. "I'll wait here."

"You should be in bed, too," the medic said, seriously.

"No, I'm okay. I just want to wait." Naruto sat down in the chair by the bed, making it plain that he was not about to lie down.

"Well, I suppose if you're sure… Just call if he wakes up, alright?" Naruto nodded. As soon as the medic left, he slumped down in his chair, not looking at his friend. He felt guilty and wretched, even if his friend would not suffer lasting damage. He could have pulled him out just a little faster… Every time he closed his eyes he saw the wave of villagers, angry but cruelly satisfied to have a new target. They swept forward…

* * *

Naruto was not aware of falling asleep, but he was woken be a horrible strangled yell, and sat up quickly, to see Oscar thrashing around, eyes pressed tightly shut and plainly terrified. Naruto stood up, his chair falling backwards. What to do? He ran to the door and caught hold of a medic in the hallway who was making his rounds. "Please!" he said, "I don't know what-" he stopped talking and simply dragged the unresisting man after him. Oscar was still in convulsions. The medic took immediate action, ordering Naruto to hold down Oscar's shoulders while he administered the medication. Naruto did his best, surprised at how hard the dark boy was fighting for his freedom. Suddenly, he went still, and the medic stepped back, stowing the empty syringe in a pocket.

"I gave him a tranquilizer, so he should be alert enough to talk to us but docile enough not to fight."

Naruto wasn't really listening, just staring at the dark boy who had sat up and had his hands over his eyes. His breath was raged and there was a hitch in it, as if he were struggling against tears. Naruto picked up the chair that had fallen and sank into it, suddenly very tired. "Are you okay?" he asked.

There was a slight pause. "No," Oscar moaned, still covering his eyes. He began to rock back and forth very slowly. "Can I leave now?" his voice was shaking.

"I don't think you should," Naruto looked around for the medic, but the man had left to continue his rounds. "What's going on?" Naruto asked quietly, hoping to calm down his friend.

"I want to l-leave,"

"You can't leave yet. You have to stay here tonight."

"I'm in a hospital, aren't I?"

"Yes."

"I can't stay here. I need to l-leave."

"Why?"

"It's a bit too close here, but you need to know." He stopped trying to master himself, and went on, "I don't react well to hospitals. It hasn't always been that way, but over the last or or so, it's gotten so I can bare set foot inside," he took his hands from his eyes, which were red but relatively clear. "That's why I have to leave. I'll sleep if you want me to, even though I'm not tired, but I can't do it here."

It didn't quite make sense to Naruto's tired mind, but since Oscar had calmed down and the medic had said the he was going to be all right, he gave in. "Alight, but we may have to go through the window. Good thing this is the first floor."

"Yeah, whatever. I just need to go…"

* * *

Naruto barely remembered the trip back to the apartment, and remembered even less getting into bed, but he must have, for that was where he was in the morning when he was woken by Sakura's voice outside of the door. He swore under his breath, having completely forgotten that he had training that day. He got out of bed and pulled open the door, face-to-face with his pink-haired teammate. She shot him an accusing look. "Jaitan-sensei is very unhappy. He sent me to get you two. What do you think you're doing? You had all of yesterday to sleep! Get dressed and I'll get Oscar."

Naruto, remembering the events of last night, moved to stop her as she made to knock on Oscar's door. "Don't," he said. "Let him sleep. I'll explain to Jaitan-sensei. Can you just write a note to Oscar telling him where we've gone?"

Sakura was highly affronted. "_You_ write a note if you want one!"

Naruto almost growled at her. How had he ever liked this bitchy little- "I _would_, except I need to get dressed, and, anyway, writing was never my forte." He ducked inside his room and then came out and handed her a pen and piece of paper. Then he prudently shut the door in her face and began to get dressed.

* * *

When he and Sakura reached the training field, all of the genin stopped what they were doing to stare. Sakura turned her back on Naruto and set off to find a space to practice as close to Sasuke as she could get. Naruto, however, had already set off toward his sensei, who did indeed look rather dour and sarcastic at the blonde boy's lateness. As Naruto passed Hinata, he took hold of her hand. She got the message and fell into step beside him. Naruto pulled Jaitan-sensei and Hinata away from the other genin, and explained the events of last night to them. The Jaitans exchanged looks and Hinata squeezed his hand in sympathy. Distractedly, Naruto remembered that Hinata did not yet know why the villagers had attacked him, and so he omitted the actual words that Oscar had said to the mob. Jaitan must have known, however, as all four of his eyes flashed. Both of his faces were thoughtful, however, when Naruto described his conversation with Oscar at the hospital. After that Jaitan didn't seem in the least annoyed at Naruto's lateness, and readily agreed not to divulge Oscar's fear without the dark boy's consent. He set Naruto with some relatively easy chakra exercises, which Naruto was grateful for. He didn't feel up to anything challenging. He did wonder about something he had heard Jaitan mutter while he had been telling the story, though.

"The Hokage will not be pleased, when word reaches his ears. The attack on a foreign shinobi is a matter of international relations.

* * *

A/N: Huh. This one didn't take long to write. If anyone one is still confused about Jaitan, do what you ought to have done some time ago and check out his bio on my author page. (note: there are a few spoilers in there) More NaruHinaness to come.

About Oscar's phobia: It will most likely be explained either in the next chapter or in the one after that, and I owe the idea for Oscar's backstory to the author Steveshakespere (thanks!) and it has to do with Oscar's phobia.

Yeah, I'm not going to stick the chunin exam right after the Journey to Wave, so that won't happen for a long while. I need to get through a few things, first.

For now, though, read, review, worship the log even though I couldn't fit it in this chapter, and, i dunno...maybe review again... Peace!


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter XIII

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

"Naruto, can you come here, please?" Naruto left off sparring with a clone to approach his sensei.

"Yes Jaitan-sensei?"

"I have an unusual request for you." The body that had not spoken tossed Naruto a scroll. "Can you read this for me?" Nonplussed, Naruto unrolled the scroll. His blue eyes scudded across the writing, leaving him none the wiser about the meaning. He looked up to find the Jaitans studying him. The one that had given him the scroll spoke. "You can't read, can you?" It wasn't really a question.

"Not at this level," Naruto confessed, rather uncomfortable.

"I didn't actually think that you could. To that end, I have taken it upon myself to assign you a tutor."

Naruto tried to sink his misgivings. "Who?"

"One of your fellow genin."

"Hinata?"

Jaitan smiled a smile that was twice as disturbing as usual. "Oh no. Hinata is training and I'd rather not interrupt her. Sakura?"

The pink-haired girl, hearing her name, approached, taking care not to let the leaves she was floating fall. "Yes, Jaitan-sensei?" she asked warily.

Never one to beat around the bush, he said, "I need you to teach Naruto to read." There was a slight silence, punctuated by a small whine of panic from Naruto.

Sakura was doubtful. "Alright, I guess…"

"And if he doesn't cooperate, feel free to use any measure you deem necessary." Naruto let out a true wail and Sakura brightened perceptibly.

"Come on Naruto!" She dragged the protesting boy away. "We're going to the library!"

Laughing quietly, Jaitan turned back to the other genin, who were pretending that they hadn't been watching. Funny how Naruto had seemed almost eager at the prospect of being taught one-on-one by the Hyuuga Heiress. Perhaps he had made a mistake in placing Naruto under Sakura, though it was not too late to change that. _Perhaps after the day's training I will ask my friend about it, though it may just confuse him._ Jaitan shook his heads crossly, eyes fixed on Ino, who was breathing heavily after only an hour and a half of continuous training. _No. There is something I must attend to first. He will have to wait.

* * *

_

After train had concluded for the day, Jaitan caught up to Ino as she left the field. He fell into step on one side of her. Ino raised her eyebrows but did not object, no matter how much the awkward side of her wanted to. Instead, she left her sensei steered her towards Ichiraku's where she had barely ever been before. She assumed that this was where Jaitan intended to talk to her.

After they had ordered, The Jaitan sitting closest to her said softly, "How do you feel?"

"Really awkward."

Jaitan seemed genuinely surprised. "Really? Senseis often talk to their teams here."

"Yeah, to their _teams._ You have me outnumbered."

"I just wanted to talk. This is serious. You're tired out after today's training, aren't you? That's not good."

"I don't understand."

"You only ordered a salad."

"Yeah, I know. I never eat here if I can help it."

"Why? You're starving yourself? You are not giving your body the basic energy or nutrients it needs to even get you through a day's training. You are potentially endangering your life and it is my fault if it leads you to your own death. If you continue with this pattern, you will be depriving yourself of the energy to keep you alive during a real battle situation."

Ino mumbled something in which the name 'Sasuke' was distinguishable.

"Sasuke? Is that boy really worth dying over? Anyway, I would have though he would be more impressed if you were able to fight better. Your lack of physical strength leads you to rely entirely on your mind-possession jutsu, and even that leaves you drained."

Ino wanted to squirm with embarrassment. Of course she knew these things, but a grain of defiance still remained inside of her. "I need to keep my figure."

The Jaitan closest to her gave her a sarcastic look. "As to that, your figure will develop more fully if you actually give your body the means to do so. Anyway, if you are able to train harder, you will burn off any unnecessary fat. Why do you make excuses? Your getting enough energy is only beneficial to you. I am responsible for your training and this could be catastrophic to you and your teammates." Both Jaitans stood, one taking out enough ryo to cover the bill and the other pushing his full plate towards the blonde. She understood and picked up her chopsticks with a grimace.

* * *

Naruto winced. "Did that hurt?" Oscar asked.

"Yes. Honestly, if I couldn't heal this fast, Sakura would have reduced me to a little pile of mush."

"Why _do_ you heal that fast?"

"I honestly don't know. Maybe it has something to do with old bijuu-butt."

"Why don't you ask the Kyuubi?"

"What? You mean make contact? I've never tried before. I get the impression he would be at least as pissed at me as the villagers. After all, I'm the only thing standing between him and freedom."

"Yeah, but you also keep him alive. You die, he dies. Anyway, even if it doesn't work, it may still be worth it to talk to him. I bet he's collected enough knowledge over the centuries to make it worth it. And who knows? Maybe the huge homicidal demon is friendly."

"Yeah, 'cause that's likely," Naruto said sarcastically. "Ah well. Maybe I will try. How should I start?"

"I dunno. Call him? Search the barracks of your soul until you find something furry? How should I know?"

"Alright, I'll try both." Naruto shut his eyes, blocking out the sight of the world around him. He fidgeted, back against the tree, finding it more comfortable to draw his knees up to his chest and rest his head on them. Then, concentrating on his conception of his own chakra flow, he fished around in his mind for anything remotely like an energy surge. He started just behind the seal on his stomach and worked his way up. When he had searched all over more than half a dozen times, he realized it was no good. Instead, he called out with his thoughts inside his head. _Kyuubi-no-Kitsune! I need to speak with you! Can you let me through, or however this works?_ Though he got no reply, the affect was almost immediate. He had the sensation that his eyes were being dragged back through the sockets and that something was wrenching at his mind. It came lose with a violent jerk and Naruto sat up with a gasp, sending up a wave of tepid water.

He looked around, knowing that one without his enhanced night vision would not have been able to see far in any direction. He was in a stone tunnel, like a sewer, but it didn't smell quite as bad as he would have expected. He turned to look behind him and saw the tunnel stretching into the darkness without so much as a light to relieve it. He faced the bit of the tunnel in front of him. Both ways looked exactly the same. _Ah well, _Naruto thought. _The Kyuubi brought me here so we could talk, so he must assume I can find it myself. _He felt the pull of the water swirling around his ankles and decided, on balance, that it would be easier to go with the flow rather than to try and wade against it. He set off on a slow, splashy walk. After a minute he began wishing it were lighter so he could see ahead. Almost as though in answer to his wishes, several dirty, off-white neon lights flickered into life near the ceiling of the tunnel, lighting his way. He glanced up at them briefly, but turned his eyes back on the tunnel. The lights had revealed a tunnel that diverged from his. With only a moment's hesitation, Naruto turned and began walking along this new tunnel. After a minute, but a subtle change in the air pressure, Naruto perceived that the tunnel had widened into a cavern. However, he didn't quite realize just how vast it was until little lights flickered on near the distant ceiling and ringing the walls on several levels. He stared around, getting his eyes used to the comparative brightness. The first things he saw were the bars.

Massive metal columns extended all the way from the floor to the ceiling, each one nearly as wide as the Hokage tower. Perhaps halfway up the center bar, Naruto could just make out a piece of paper bearing the kanji for 'seal.' The bars took up more than half of the space in the cavern, still leaving an area the size of the entire ninja academy. Naruto has been so absorbed in studying his surroundings that he did not immediately register the other occupant of the room. When he finally did look past the bars, he encountered two enormous red eyes staring at him with detached hatred. Naruto swallowed a little, each eye was bigger than he was.

The Kyuubi shifted forward slightly and the dim light helped Naruto to pick out the fox's other features; Two long, almost rabbit-like ears, sharp, curved claws, long, discouragingly sharp fangs, and, though it was hard to make them out, Naruto could dimly see the nine red tails, some swishing lazily over the fox's back, and some splayed out on the floor like a scarlet pool of blood. After a minute of studying Naruto, the fox's lips peeled back in a sneer. It spoke.

"**Hello, little boy."**

Naruto was untroubled by the condescending note in the bijou's voice. "Hello, giant fox-thing."

The kyuubi's eyes narrowed to glowing slits. **"Your insolence shows that you are even more of a fool than you appear."**

"Funny, I thought they locked up all the fools thirteen years ago." He smirked maliciously. Two could play at a battle of insults.

The Kyuubi was incensed. _No_ _one_ dared to mention the seal! He would crush the smile from the boy's face. An arm shot out. It was too big to get through the bars, but it didn't matter. With a speed that most would not believe possible, the fox flicked out a claw, smashing into the blonde boy and sending him crashing into the opposite wall.

To Naruto, it was like being hit by a pile of bricks from the front and from behind. He suspected that had this not been all in his head, he would have died, regeneration or no. Everything screamed in protest to this abuse; his ribs, kneecaps, face, skull…. He shook his aching head, dislodging himself from the wall and falling to his knees. He did not need to look up to note the fox's satisfaction.

"**If only the affects were lasting. But, sadly, your mindscape does not seem to permit more permanent damage to you in this state."**

Naruto stood unsteadily, already aware that the pain was leaving. So, it was his mindscape to control? That explained the appearance of the lights in the passage. Perhaps there was something he could do to take the fox down a notch. Not necessary, but after what had just been done to him, the blonde wasn't about to back down. He stared at the fox with loathing, mind racing. He hit on the perfect plan. Closing his eyes, he willed, hard and ignorantly. He focused the whole of his mind on executing this one action. Slowly, he felt his surroundings respond to his will. He knew that it had worked when he heard the Kyuubi's whine of panic.

Naruto's eyes slid open of their own accord. He saw the mighty demon fox sprawled on the floor of the cage pinned and struggling, clearly in great discomfort.

"**What are you doing?" **He demanded wildly.

"I increased you gravity to more than one hundred times what you're used to. It won't crack the floor because I don't want it to, but it will keep you pinned until I let you up. I wouldn't be surprised if the pressure is crushing your ribs and lungs and straining you muscles."

The Kyuubi was blind with fury, but almost awed at the amount of control that the boy could exercise in here. **"Let me up!"**

"I don't know. If I do, will you answer my questions instead of attacking me?"

The Kyuubi hesitated for a moment. His pride was on the line, though many would say that it had already been demolished. **"I do not answer to you, brat."**

"Well, can't say I didn't try." Naruto held out a hand, palm down. Slowly, he lowered it. The great fox felt the crushing sensation double. It felt as if his eyes where being squished out and his lungs deflated. Through his almost deadened ears, he could make out the crack of his bones snapping. He was about to pass out from the pain and lack of oxygen. He dragged in one final breath, perhaps to revoke his statement, before he felt suddenly and remarkably light. He sat up quickly, wincing as his youki dragged and mended torn muscle tissue and knitted broken bones.

The Kyuubi growled deep in his throat. **"I knew it. You don't have the strength to really kill. You're all talk, human brat."**

"My name is Naruto." He glared at the fox. "Why should I kill you? I came to talk to you. I want to ask you some stuff about my advanced healing and things like that."

"**I do not answer to human filth. If you think I will divulge my secrets to one such as you, you are going to be sorely disappointed."** The fox leered.

"Well, I think you're making a big mistake."

"**As are you, mortal, adopting that tone with me. I have killed thousands of your kind without hesitation, and I would do it again and again, to pay back those who put me here."**

Naruto resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. "Just hear my out. You may as well tell me about what kind of things your presence inside of me is doing. Who knows, the knowledge might save my life. And the longer _I_ live, the longer _you_ put off dying."

There was no way the Kyuubi could deny this, but he rallied almost at once. **"Even if I handed you my secrets, human, you could not use my powers. It would take an amount of control, effort, and determination that all but the best lack."**

Naruto shrugged. "Still worth a shot. I'm willing to train as hard as it takes if it means adding a life-saving technique to my arsenal."

"**That's what you say now, but, like any other of your race, you will not follow through. When you are halfway there, you will abandon it. I don't know how any of your kind have ever hoped to succeed at harnessing my powers."**

"Try me." Naruto focused, picturing a wooden bench, like those back at the academy. He felt a small surge of displaced water around his ankles and open his eyes to see the worn and graffitied bench he knew so well. He sat down and faced the fox.

The Kyuubi was not altogether willing to share his secrets, but he could see the good sense in teaching the useless boy a few tricks. Anything to prolong death. **"You may well regret that request. Very well. I shall tell you what I know. First of all, the benefits of being a Jinchuriki that you have already been enjoying include heightened sight, smell, and hearing, as well as the rapid regeneration that you mentioned earlier. In addition, the most powerful ability you have been granted is access to my own chakra, my youki. This is a curse disguised as a blessing. For one thing, it gives you an incredible amount of raw power to fight with. For another, the more you use, the faster it kills you. My youki is much more potent than the chakra that your kind uses. It also carries my will. Every time you dip into my chakra stores, my youki, infused with my will, flushes out your system, overpowering your will and killing your cells. You would die the very first time you used my powers, were it not for the healing factor. It will go into overdrive, growing new cells as soon as the old ones are killed."**

Naruto listened, perplexed. "I don't understand how that would kill me faster if the damage is being reversed instantly anyway. I mean, it is worrying, what you say about me not being able to control myself, but how would that kill me faster?"

"**The cells in you body an reproduce only a certain amount of times before they quit altogether. My will and youki would kill your cells at such a rate that it would leave the number of times your cells can reproduce in future dramatically diminished. The less the amount of times your cells can reproduce, the shorter your lifespan. Do you understand? Do not use my youki unless you have real need. "**

What about that whole 'You will have to train hard to master it' thing? How am I supposed to practice if it'll kill me to do it?"

"**As to that, I have no answer. You will have to figure it out on your own. Though, it may help to practice mastering your emotions. If you are full of anger or fear or grief, my youki will flow forth unbidden."**

"And what about the healing abilities? Do those kill me too?"

"**No, boy. Only the rapid killing and regrowth cycle has that affect. That is about all I can tell you, for now at least."**

"If something comes up, will I be able to contact you again?"

"**Yes, probably more easily than you did today. Before you leave, however, can I make a request?"**

"Go ahead."

"**Do something about the water in my cage. Sitting in it for thirteen years has not been altogether pleasant."**

"Alright." Naruto knew that moving the water would be more effort than he felt up to at that moment. Instead, eyes closed once more, he created an enormous concrete platform inside of the cage. He propped it up on cinderblocks to allow the water to flow underneath. As an afterthought, he created a kind of huge censure hanging from the ceiling just outside of the cage. With a final flourish, he lit the fire within. The Kyuubi did not give any outward sign of appreciation, but Naruto didn't need one.

* * *

Naruto came to his senses, stiff-necked and sore from sitting hunched over. He felt the slightest chill of late afternoon on his face. How much time had passed? He had gone in at about 5:45. What time was it now? In the midst of his worrying, he noticed that, while his face was cool from the air, the rest of him was quite warm. He cracked open one eye and rolled it around to his left, which was the warmest. There, he saw his favorite lavender-eyed, blue-haired girl. She appeared to have fallen asleep with her arms wrapped around him. He couldn't help smiling. _Everyone should have a beautiful girl to greet him after a traumatizing encounter with a demon,_ he thought.

His smile faltered a little when he remembered that Hinata was still unaware of the fact that he was a Jinchiriki. He knew he would have to tell her, but now didn't seem like the moment. Wearily, he tilted his head, resting it on top of hers. He wanted to put his arms around her, too, but he was sure it would wake her to abruptly. He settled for stroking her short, soft hair. Unable to resist, he leaned forward a little and kissed her forehead.

His stirring had woken her. She opened her large, pale eyes, giving him a small, embarrassed smile. They sat together for some time, until Naruto realized that the sun was dipping closer and closer to the horizon, throwing long, black shadows sprawling to his left. By that time, his arms were around her and her head was buried in his shoulder. They had said not a single word to each other, but that was because there was nothing to say. Naruto had not had to offer an explanation for sleeping outdoors. Perhaps Hinata had thought he was meditating. When a member of the Hyuuga branch house drifted into sight, Naruto closed his eyes, pretending not to see. He knew that a Hyuuga would not do something so crass as to try and pry Hinata away from him, little though he must approve of Hinata's actions. Naruto gritted his teeth. He would not give up Hinata until he was good and ready.

* * *

A/N: Not as much humor as normal. I did fit in the Naruhina scene, though. I probably said this already, but there will be several chapters before the Chunin exams because there are a lot of events to get through/ explain. To be explained: Who Jaitan's friend is (mentioned in this chapter), Oscar's fear of hospitals/ background.

To all who played Ultimate Ninja Storm II, did you love it as much as I did? Of course you did!

Kudos to my brother for being my beta reader :) he wants credit, so I give it.

May you bear witness in this very Author's Note, that the Log shall be revered in due course, whenever this author has the opportunity to do so, it shall be done!

Bye!

PS- Reveiw. Thanks!


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter XIV

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

All ten of the genin lounged in the grass by the edge of the training field.

"Come on, Jaitan will start looking for us soon," Sakura whined. "We should start training.

"Yes. She's right. Come on!" Oscar jumped up. When his words garnered no response, not even from Sakura, he shouted, "Come, my loyal minions!"

"I'm not your minion," Choji muttered through a mouthful of chips.

Oscar put on a serious expression. "Well, you have to be somebody's minion. It's very hard to find good work as a freelance minion."

"Aren't we all technically freelance minions, seeing as we're ninjas?" Sasuke asked.

"Not exactly freelance. We _do_ have teams," Shino pointed out.

"As scintillating as this conversation is," Everyone twitched in surprise.

"Log, Jaitan! I wish you wouldn't _do_ that!"

Jaitan continued smoothly, "I am your sensei, and, therefore, you are all _my_ minions. So, thus said, good little minions are going to learn how to water walk today! Doesn't that sound like fun?" Everyone groan, both at the prospect of getting up and doing work and at the faux-enthusiastic note in Jaitan's voice. "Tsk tsk. That's not how _my_ minions will behave." The body that had, up until then, been completely silent, broke into an enormous grin and drew a sopping wet, and probably icy cold, towel out from behind his back. He twisted it into a thick whip shape and cracked it loudly, causing shivers to run down the spines of his charges. The ten genin stood up and fled toward the small pond at the other side of the field. They were pursued the whole way by their sensei, one of his bodies holding the whip and the other cackling, "Flee! Flee before me, wretched minions!"

* * *

"Now, channel your chakra out of the soles of your feet. You are using the chakra to hold yourself off of the surface of the water in a way that is slightly similar to tree climbing. This time, however, you're not just sticking yourself to the surface, as that would dump you at the bottom of the pond with a thin layer of water stuck to the bottom of your feet. Here, you have to also infuse your chakra with the surface of the water. You need to create a sufficient amount of surface tension to be able to use your chakra to float on it. When you progress to actually walking on the water, you will find that you have to modify your chakra flow as you go, adjusting to the movement of the water. For now, I will be content with you just learning how to stand on it, though you will learn how to walk on it before I'm through. For now, just practice in the shallows. I'll come around and correct you. Any questions?"

"Um, yeah," Kiba said, raising his hand to shoulder height. "Why are you still holding the whip?"

The Jaitan who have been speaking looked over his shoulder. Behind him stood his clone, still wielding the wet towel. "Call it an incentive." Both faces shared a brief, but no less evil for that, grin.

A few minutes later, Naruto landed with a splash, floundering and choking. "I can't do it!" he yelled in frustration.

"Geez, calm down. No one else can do it yet either," Shikamaru yawned. He caught his sensei's eye and hastily tried to look busy attempting to grasp the jutsu.

"I know," Naruto said frustratedly. "But I thought that I did it for a second." The blonde stood up, rather depressed, and not just because the seat of his pants was completely soaked. He glanced over at Hinata, who was tactfully pretending not to notice his recent failure.

* * *

A rather damp, and slightly discontent troupe of genin left the field that day. Not one of them had been able to fully walk on the water. A few of them had been able to get one foot to float successfully, but once more weight was put on it or the water shifted under them, the thin layer of cohesion was broken and the foot just fell through.

Naruto wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings. He could walk back to his apartment on autopilot, and he really wanted to change his cold, wet clothes. Because of this, it took him a moment to realize that Hinata was trailing a few feet behind him. He slowed down a little to let her catch up.

"Hey," She said. Naruto noticed that her stutter had almost entirely vanished, at least when she spoke to him. She continued, "Oscar-kun just gave me this. I th-think he gave them to everyone. What- I mean, do you know what it is?" She held up a little white envelope.

Naruto frowned at it. "No, I don't. Open it, see what it is."

Hinata slid a thin, pale finger under the sealed flap and slit it open. She pulled out a little, hand-lettered card. She read it over quickly and then passed it to Naruto with a slight blush. It read-

To whom it may concern-

You are formally invited to a

SLEEPOVER PARTY

Hosted by Oscar Junomaru.

All of your fellow genin will be there

Attendance Mandatory

RSVP unnecessary

Plan to arrive around 6:30pm

(Wear your pajamas and bring a sleeping bag)

Date: Tonight

There followed a list of directions on how to get to Naruto's apartment building. Naruto bit the inside of his cheek in amusement. "Trust him to do something like this. You coming?"

"Er, well N-naruto-kun, the card s-says Attendance M-mandatory." Hinata turned faintly pink at her own daring.

"True," Naruto said. His mind was not completely there; part of it was wondering what kind of pajamas Hinata wore. "Will your father let you come?"

Hinata sobered. This was a problem she had evidently been avoiding contemplating. "I-I hope so. I'll have to be really tactful and d-downplay e-everything."

"Maybe you should go ask him now and get it over with," Naruto suggested, dubiously. He did not like the idea that Hinata would have to fight her father just for permission for something as small as a sleepover. "Do you want me to come?"

"Well, I want you to, b-but, I th-think it's better if I appear b-before my father a-alone." Naruto understood. His presence was not welcome in the Hyuuga clan compound.

* * *

Naruto surveyed the room dubiously. There wasn't much sign that there was about to be a sleepover party, apart from the food that sat on the table. Also, he wasn't quite sure if ten people would fit into the small apartment room. But hey, it wasn't his party.

"Okay," Oscar said, "I need you to go into your room for a minute, and I'm not letting you back in if you're not wearing your pajamas. Also, bring a sleeping bag. You'll need it."

"Slight problem, I don't own a sleeping bag," Naruto pointed out.

"True. Neither do I, come to that." The dark boy frowned. "Just bring some blankets, then."

"Right." Naruto left, shutting the door behind him. He didn't really want to crawl through the tiny connecting door if he didn't have to.

By the time he came back wearing his pajamas and nightcap and dragging a blanket, Oscar was already in pajamas and had set up his own blankets on the floor. He caught Naruto's confused look. "What? It wouldn't be fair if I slept on the bed."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. What time is everyone coming again?"

Oscar picked up the watch that was lying on his bed and studied it before tossing it back down. "They should be here in a few minutes. Before they come, I have a question." There was not a trace of a smile on the shorter boy's face. "Have you told Hinata about the Kyuubi?"

"You mean, the fact that I have a homicidal demon fox inside of me? No, not yet. I know I'll have to, and soon, but I haven't really gotten around to it yet." He noticed the tense look on his friend's face. "Why? Should I tell her tonight?"

Oscar opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a sharp rap on the door. Looking half guilty and half relieved, the dark boy scuttled over to the door and threw it open to reveal Shino, Sakura, and Ino, all carrying sleeping bags and pillows and dressed in pjs. Naruto was interested to see that Shino still wore his sunglasses, though the sun would be completely going down in two or three hours. Over the next twenty minutes or so, the rest of the genin arrived, all pajama-clad, emotions ranging from dubious to excited. Sad though it may sound, none of the young ninjas had ever attended a sleepover before. To everyone's silent relief, however, Ino and Sakura had wisely decided to leave their handmade Sasuke dolls at home.

The genin made themselves at home, laying out sleeping bags and talking. Led by Choji, they all drifted toward the food before sitting in little groups on the floor. Oscar, who was sitting slightly apart from his guests, looked slightly nervous, but determined. When he judged the most people were done eating, he called for quiet.

"Okay, guys," he said, "Now, there is a reason why I called you here tonight, but I can't tell you until you're all facing me. Why don't we form a circle?" he waited while his peers scooted around, finally forming a wobbly circle on the floor. Oscar inserted himself between Sakura and Sasuke, perhaps sensing that this was a prudent move. He looked around the circle, making sure that every eye was on him. They were. He cleared his throat. "Alright. Well. Lets start here." He turned to Sakura, put a hand on her shoulder, looked her right in the eye, and said, "Do you trust me?"

Sakura gave a slightly creeped out look. She leaned back a little. "Well, it's kind of-"

But Oscar cut her off as he turned to Sasuke on his other side. He did the same thing. "Sasuke, do you trust me?"

Sasuke was better at controlling his face, but he could not stop it betraying a flicker of unease. "It's not-"

But Oscar cut him off, too. "Ino," he said, his face completely serious, "Do you trust Sakura?"

A sneer began to form on the blonde girl's face as she eyed her rival. Oscar didn't let her even begin to form a reply, instead, he asked Sakura if she trusted Ino, and got much the same response.

"Alright," Kiba burst out, "That's nice, no one trusts anyone here. What's your point?"

"That _is_ my point," Oscar said. "We are shinobi, which, as a general rule means 'trust no one and rely only on yourself.' However, while we are still genin and still have teams, and still train and live together, we should trust each other a little better."

"So this whole party is just one big trust-building exercise?" Choji asked, mouth full.

"Yup."

"That's funny, coming from you, considering we barely know anything about you," Kiba shot at Oscar, who, to his credit, barely winced.

"I agree, I haven't exactly offered information about my childhood, but I want to now. I want everyone here to. Perhaps," he slid Kiba a sly look, "you'd like to start?"

Kiba clutched his sleeping puppy's fur and growled in his throat, the challenge obvious. "Alright, but it's nothing you couldn't already guess. I was born and raised in Konoha. From birth, Akamaru has been my friend and practically my only companion. We fight together, work together, go places together, and have basically the same opinions. He even came to the academy with me every day, and faked being sick to get out of going to the academy whenever I did." Kiba stared down at the little white dog in his lap. He seemed to be thinking. "That's pretty much my life." Still not looking up, he stroked Akamaru's fur.

"Good." Kiba looked up, giving the dark boy a defiant look. "Now I know something about you. It wasn't painful, was it? I propose that we all go around and do what Kiba did."

"Why don't you go now?"

"Because that would be going out of order. Choji, you're up next." Catching a look from Shikamaru, Oscar elaborated, "I'll take my turn! I just want to go in order. It makes it easier to keep track of who's gone. Choji?"

Choji took a single chip for the bag he was nursing and then set down the bag. At a raised eyebrow from Shikamaru, who was sitting on Choji's right, the Akimichi explained that bag was empty, anyway. Everyone listened attentively at Choji gave his own life story, paring it down so that practically the only things he mentioned were being bullied by kids at the academy and his friendship with Shikamaru. When he had finished, Oscar had to prompt Shikamaru to get him to tell his story. When the lazy boy had done so, leaving out almost everything worth knowing, it was Ino's turn.

The blonde girl with very passionate, talking about how she looked out for Sakura when they were younger, how their great rivalry had sprung up when they discovered that they shared a fangirlish love for Sasuke-kun, and ended up by asserting her self-proclaimed position as Sasuke's true lover. Sakura was glaring daggers at Ino by the time the latter was finished, and Oscar had to quickly move on to Shino before things could escalate.

Shino, who wasn't one to use unnecessary words, spent his time talking about his bugs and his bug collection. Several of his peers gave little shudders as he tried to describe the feeling of thousands of tiny insects crawling under your skin. Oscar seemed genuinely interested, though, much to Sakura's disgust.

Hinata was up next. Knowing what was coming, Naruto gripped her right hand in his and put his left arm around her shoulders. Hinata, voice trembling and stuttering, described her early childhood, her unfair treatment at home, the way her father favored her sister, the time she got kidnapped and how her cousin had hated her ever since. Her story made a few of her fellow genin shift guiltily, knowing that they had never tried to make friendly contact with the Hyuuga heiress at the academy, even if most of them had not teased her outright. When she had finished, Hinata swallowed, blinking back tears and leaned against Naruto's shoulder, waiting for him to take a turn. She knew that he would need as much support as she had during the recounting.

However, instead of launching into his story of life as the village pariah, Naruto looked over Sakura's head, right at Oscar. In a low, steady voice, the blonde asked, "Can I go last?"

Oscar gave him a quick searching look, before nodding. Sakura seemed annoyed at that. "What was all that crap about want us to go in order if you're just going to let Naruto go last?" she demanded.

"One, it wasn't crap, and two, you should be thanking me. By the time he's gone, you'll be glad you didn't have to try and top his story by going after. Your turn."

She gave him a malevolent look, before starting a story that bore a remarkable similarity to Ino's, though it was told from the other point of view. She described how she had been picked on in the academy and had had no friends until Ino had begun talking to her. She had thought Ino the smartest, prettiest, most confident person she knew. Until she saw Sasuke. Their friendship had suffered due to their mutual attraction for the boy and they had ended up nemeses.

When the pink-haired girl had finished, more than one of the genin in the circle were thinking what a shame it was to have a perfectly good friendship go to ruins over a boy who didn't even want them.

Finally, it was Oscar's turn. After first ensuring that he had a full audience, (he did) he began. "Well, all of you must know that I don't come from around here. I was born and raised in Kumo and was only sent here a few months ago by my parents. I should probably start with them. Both of my parents are medic-nin, not quite good enough to be known here, but good enough to always be in demand in our village. When I was younger, they were hardly ever home. They were always at the hospital, dealing with a crisis. When they were home, while they didn't neglect me, they didn't take the time to get to know me at all. They would talk about work and never really talk to me, though they would make sure there was food in he house and things like that. I was jealous of that hospital. I know it sounds weird, but it was the place where my parents spent their time and the place my parents talked about. I had never seen it, but I knew it was there, like an older sibling who's always busy but still gets all the attention." Everyone was too focused on Oscar's story to notice Sasuke stiffen. "When I was old enough, my parents began insisting, in addition to my academy studies, that I study medicine as well. They were determined that I become a medic, too. I didn't want to do it. I had seen how that career could take up your entire life, dealing with one crisis after another. I fought against it for a while, but finally realized that I had the key to my parents. I though that if I was a good medic, they would pay more attention to me." He let out a tired sigh.

"So I studied hard. I even read the most boring psychology texts, looking for anything to impress my parents. I think it even began to work. Two or three years ago, they started asking me to come with them to the hospital to observe. I really _hated_ that. I couldn't stand it, the white walls and the smell of sickness. I kept coming back, because I wouldn't disappoint my parents, but I grew to dread those hours helping out in the hospital. It made me feel sick and unclean. I wanted to get away. When my parents finally announced that they were sending me here, I pretended to be sorry, but it was probably the best thing that could have happened." He looked up. He hadn't been making eye contact the entire time. Now he did so, steeling himself to meet every eye in turn.

"I had no friends, either. I was always at home studying. Anyway, I doubt anyone would be my friend if I had tried. Though my parents never knew it, most of the people in my village thought I was dangerously unbalanced. They thought I would spread my insanity to their children, who they kept out of my way. I probably behaved worse at home than I do here, partly because it was expected of me by then, and partly to get my parents' attention." He stopped looking perplexed. "The end."

There was a brief silence. Finally, Shikamaru gave a low whistle, which seemed to snap Oscar out of his reverie. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"You told me," Sakura said, looking a little dazed, "That you hadn't had any medical training."

"I lied. I wasn't ready to admit that I may need the things that my parents taught me. Anyway, that was all of it, so I daresay you all know more about me than I do about you, now." He shook himself, as if hoping to rid himself of the damp trails of misery. "Sasuke, your up. And Naruto after that."

Sasuke, who seemed to have been as affected by Oscar's story as the dark boy, moistened his lips before speaking. "Though you were all as young as I was when it happened, you must all remember the Uchiha massacre." He stared straight ahead, as looking back to that day. "You know that I was the sole survivor, the only one spared. What you may not know, because the Hokage asked people not to speak of it, was that I am not the last Uchiha, though that's what I intend to become." His eyes hardened. "My entire clan was slaughtered by my older brother, Itachi. I was very young at the time, but I burst in on him, standing over the murdered corpses of our parents. I couldn't believe it. Itachi and I had been so close, as brothers and friends, though there had still been jealousy. My father favored him, Itachi the genius, making chunin at ten years old and ANBU at thirteen. All I wanted was to be as good as my older brother. But on that day, everything changed. My parents were dead and my brother a monster. He cast a genjutsu, so that I would watch him kill my parents a million times over, stretching the three seconds I was under into three days. I do owe him one thing. Before he left me forever, he gave me a new mission in life: to train and become strong enough to kill him." Sasuke's last words were met with a chilly silence.

Sasuke, having achieved the desired effect, let the silence stretch for a few seconds before turning to Naruto and meeting his blue eyes. The blonde boy was still holding Hinata. "Your turn," he said, though Naruto could sense the unspoken words _'top that.'_

_All right, I will,_ Naruto thought, grimly. _ I just hope Hinata takes it okay._ Naruto sat up straighter, pulling Hinata closer for moral support. _Where to begin?_ "Er, well, I've spent my entire life being shunned and hated by practically everyone in Konoha. You know how it is; some of your parents do it, too. This is the thing, though- it's not because I prank the living daylights out of everyone; there's a bigger reason. On the night of the Kyuubi attack, I wasn't the only orphaned child. Hundreds of people, shinobi and civilians, lost family members that day to the fox." This sentence rang oddly on the ears of his listeners. Why should he call the Kyuubi no Kitsune something so informal? He continued without pause, "Most people blame me for those deaths. Why? Because that big, fluffy, deadly fox-thing was sealed inside of me at birth, stopping the attack and making me the best siphon for the anger of the people. Oh yeah, and a demon container."

He stopped, not knowing what else to add. That was his life in a nutshell, unless he was going to say something about ramen. Somehow, one did not bring the Kyuubi and ramen into the same thought. His musings were shattered by a snort from Kiba.

"Nice try, Naruto." The Inuzuka said, rolling his eyes. "But that was biggest pile of bullshit I've ever heard. You should have at least tried to make it sound convincing."

Naruto felt his face heating up. "I'm _not lying_," he said through clenched teeth. "I can prove it to you." Gently, he moved Hinata aside, not even risking a glance at her face to check her reaction. No doubt she hated him as much as the others, now. Naruto pulled up the tee shirt that he always wore to bed and channeled some chakra, not forming it into anything in particular. As soon as he did, an ornate seal appeared on his stomach, growing blacker and more ominous-looking the more chakra he channeled. After a few seconds, he dropped the edge of his shirt to hide it and looked around. His friends' faces showed only shock. They had all believed, like Kiba, that Naruto had been lying. From the looks on their faces, they were now furiously going though anything they knew about Naruto and watching those things fall into place.

Ino was the first to speak, eyes wide and voice trembling slightly. "Can- can it get out?"

"No, much as he'd like to."

"So, you've talked to it?" Sasuke asked. The Uchiha didn't seem to have a single quip for this type of situation.

"Yup. He would have killed me, too, if he could have." He found his arm griped by a surprisingly strong force, and looked around to see Hinata's face peering intently at his.

"Is th-that what you were doing in the training g-grounds the other day?" she asked

Naruto nodded. His heart stood still as Hinata stared at him long and hard before she slid her arms around him and hugged him, right in front of everybody. She butted the top of her head against his chest, and Naruto discovered that she was crying again. He took it as a good sign and put his arms around her with relief and genuine affection. After a minute he picked her up and set her in his lap so that he could hug her more easily.

Instead of dissolving into smaller groups again to talk, the ten shinobi stayed in the larger circle, talking of the things they had learned. Oscar was asking Shino about his insects, Choji was asking Ino about her friendship with Sakura, and nobody bothered Naruto and Hinata. No one wanted to bother Sasuke, either. He sat and brooded, until Shikamaru crawled over and sat down by him. The two didn't say anything for some time.

It was a half hour to midnight when the genin finally crawled into their sleeping bags, exhausted. Oscar did not lie down yet, however, his gaze was riveted on Shino, waiting for the bug boy to take his sunglasses off. He was most frustrated when the Aburame took out a plain black sleeping mask and slid it down over his eyes behind the sunglasses before removing the dark lenses.

Most drifted off to sleep at once, but Naruto and Hinata stayed up for a further hour, speaking in whispers, their sleeping bags and blankets pulled close together. The only thing that disturbed the night's sleep was when Sakura woke everyone up at two in the morning by throwing her pillow at Shino and shrieking at him to _stop humming!_

* * *

A/N: Yay! The deed tis done. I've been planning this chapter ever since I began writing this fic. Thank you to Steveshakespere for suggesting that Oscar have a medical background. Thank you also to Midnighter67 for being the ONLY ONE TO REVIEW FOR THE LAST CHAPTER!

I did manage to include the Log in this chapter! Yes, Hinata did get permission to go to the sleepover (obviously.) I'll update Oscar's bio to include the new information.

So, without further ado, I bid thee farewell, and beg only that you submit a review before you leave. Bye!

ps-The song that Shino was humming was Crawling by Linkin Park (the first four words of the song/ chorus of the song are 'crawling in my skin')


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter XV

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Naruto didn't open his eyes. He had been having such a pleasant dream and he didn't want it to end. He tried to hang onto he images, but they were already fading him, leaving him with only the afterglow of contentment. After a few minutes, during which he had made no attempt to get up, he flexed his fingers, wishing to get rid of the cramp in his right hand. When he moved his hand, however, he discovered that it was wrapped around someone else's. He opened his eyes and raised his head to see who it might be and was greeted by the sight of a small, dark-haired girl. Hinata's eyes were closed and her breathing soft and even. Clearly, she was still asleep. Careful not to disturb her, Naruto slid his hand out from under hers and propped himself up to look around.

Seeing his peers littered around the floor like so many dead bodies was an eerie sight, until Naruto remembered why they were all there. Standing up, he picked his way over to Oscar, noting, as he did, the fact that Sakura was sleeping without a pillow and that Shino seemed to have two. He knelt down and shook Oscar's shoulder, clamping a hand over the sleeping boy's mouth as he did so. Oscar's eyes shot open and then narrowed to slits. Realizing what he was about to do, Naruto pulled his hand back fast, not wishing to be licked or bitten that early in the morning.

"What?" Oscar moaned.

"Well, we need to be down at the training field in an hour or two. Wanna help me wake everyone up?"

"Why can't we just let them sleep? We have a while."

"Because hardly anyone brought clothes to change into, so you need to give them time to go home before training."

"Oh. Right. Well, you have my permission to try and wake people up while I go back to sleep." Oscar buried his face in the pillow and pulled his blanket up over his head.

Naruto did not feel quite equal to the task of waking up his peers so early, so he enlisted the help of Choji, Ino and Sasuke. It wasn't that he didn't consider Hinata tactful enough to handle this kind of thing; he just wanted to let her sleep a little longer as a favor.

When he had at least most of the genin awake and tottering around, eyes still half closed, he announced that those who had not brought a change of clothes should go home before training began.

Soon, the only ones left were Kiba, Hinata, Sasuke, Oscar and Naruto. Hinata and Sasuke took turns in the tiny bathroom changing into the clothes they brought. Kiba waited in the hallway. He hadn't brought a change of clothes, instead opting to stay in the clothes he had worn the day before and slept in. Naruto got the impression that the Inuzuka was damned if he was going to walk all the way back to his clan compound for just clean clothes. When everyone was ready, they headed off to the training grounds.

Naruto and Hinata lagged slightly behind the other three. They didn't speak, or even try to hold hands, but the silence between them wasn't awkward. Since they were in the back of the small party, they were unprepared when Kiba stopped right in front of them. Naruto prodded Kiba in the back to make him move. When the Inuzuka complied, Naruto and Hinata stepped forward past the trees to join Sasuke, Oscar, Jaitan, and a woman whom they had never seen before.

Jaitan hadn't yet acknowledged them, so they took a moment to inspect the woman who accompanied him. She had short purple hair and was wearing a miniskirt with a mesh shirt above that. Over the mesh shirt she wore a trench coat that hung carelessly open, leaving little of her undoubtedly impressive figure to the imagination. Hinata glanced over at Naruto to find a look of wistful admiration growing on his face. To dispel this, she gave him a small kick in the ankle. He winced and looked over at her. Well, perhaps the kick hadn't been that small. She communicated her feelings via a slight widening of the eyes and a dangerous smile, accompanied by the threat of the kunai she held down by her side. Naruto gulped and submitted, keeping his gaze on his sensei, rather than giving Hinata any reason to maim him even a little.

Jaitan looked over to see several of his students. A look of mild puzzlement crossed his faces. He checked a watch and spoke. "Far be it of me to criticize, but you are a bit early today."

"Yes. We are," Sasuke replied. "Who's she?" He pointed an accusatory finger at the purple-haired woman, who treated him to a smile and a raised kunai.

"Careful, brat. If you're not prepared to use that finger, I may as well save you the trouble and cut it off," The woman said.

"Trust me, she would," Jaitan said under his breath. Sasuke hastily pulled his finger in.

"You still haven't answered my question."

"This is Anko Mitarashi. Anko, these are my students Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga, Oscar Junomaru, and Kiba Inuzuka."

"Aw, come on!" The woman pouted. "I'm doing you a favor! Don't I deserve a better introduction that that?"

Sasuke was not impressed. "What are you doing here?" he asked, addressing himself directly to Anko.

"You know what, Jaitan?" Anko asked, "I don't like the brats you're teaching. They're awfully rude." Overriding the splutters and protests of Naruto and Oscar, she continued, "Maybe I should come back later, when they've learned to behave, in, say, a few months?"

"What?" Jaitan looked panicked. "No! I've been trying to get you out here for weeks! You can't just leave now!"

"Can and will, unless that brat apologizes." She waited, staring pointedly at Sasuke.

Sasuke went slightly pink and muttered something that could have been mistaken for an apology, if one were hard of hearing.

"What was that?" That woman asked, clearly enjoying the consternation she was putting Jaitan in beside her.

"I said 'I'm sorry,'" Sasuke said, loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"Damn straight," Anko said. "For your information, I'm here to do your sensei a little favor. I wouldn't normally bother, but having someone in my debt is a position I enjoy." She grinned viciously.

"W-wait, will you be helping to t-teach us?" Hinata asked.

"Yep!"

Sasuke paled.

"Perhaps the full introduction could wait until the other students have arrived," Jaitan put in. "They shouldn't be too long," he said, speaking from the previously silent body, for a little variation.

While they waited for the others to turn up, Naruto and Hinata drifted off a little ways to talk. Kiba tried to follow, but at a look from Naruto, he desisted. Sasuke sat in the grass and much to his irritation Oscar sat down beside him. Jaitan resumed speaking to Anko. After a quarter of an hour, just when everyone was beginning to get restless, the other genin straggled in through the trees.

Jaitan clapped one pair of hands. "Okay, right into it, I have asked a friend of mine who working in the Torture and Interrogation department to assist me in teaching you certain topics. For those of you who were not present for the previous introduction, this is Anko Mitarashi, Snake Mistress of Konoha." Anko stepped forward and made a theatrical bow. The effect of this was slightly muted for Naruto, who was studiously observing the ground at his feet and not two other specific body parts that shall remain nameless. The reason was that Hinata had caught his eye, her expression daring him to try it. Naruto was slightly taken aback, but not entirely displeased; Hinata was becoming bolder.

The only thing Naruto could think to do was to say under his breath, "I thought Mitarashi was a type of dango."

"What's that, fishcake?" Anko asked in a teasing voice.

Naruto's face flushed as his peers turned to give him puzzled looks. "For the love of Log it means _maelstrom_, not fishcake!"

Sasuke snickered quietly. "I don't know, Naruto. You seem more like a 'Fishcake' than a 'Maelstrom' to me." Sasuke then had to duck a kind flying skewer that had once held dango and had been aimed straight for his eye. To everyone's surprise, the projectile had come from Anko, not Naruto.

"Stay out of it, mini-Uchiha," She said mildly. "That was my line."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the indignity of being called "mini-Uchiha."

Jaitan was willing to overlook the insults, but he drew the line at wooden projectiles. "Anko, you agreed not to physically maim anyone under the age of fifteen until after you started to teach," his body on the right said sternly, while the body standing slightly behind that one wagged a finger.

Anko gave a deep ironic bow. "My sincerest apologies, I'm sure."

"You are? I'm not," Jaitan said dubiously. "Anyway, my students are probably confused enough as it is, so we may as well tell them what exactly you are going to be teaching." He turned to better address the amassed genin. "Anko has more experience and expertise than I in the areas of flexibility, poison, illusions and torture. For the most part, that is what she will be teaching you."

"Wait," Ino piped up, "will you still be teaching us, too?"

"Of course. The things that I have taught you and will teach you in future will become more effective when coupled with Anko's lessons."

"Can you go back to that 'maiming' part?" Choji asked, nervously crunching a handful of chips.

"I could, be you would be too scared," Was Jaitan's only reply. The eerie silence stretched.

Anko broke it. "Anyway," she said brightly, "Flexibility is first on my list. For some reason," she frowned, "Jaitan refused to let me teach poison and flexibility together. Instead, I'll be having you run an obstacle course while I throw boring non-lethal projectiles at you. 'Kay?" No one objected. They were all too caught off guard by her cheerful, offhanded manner.

"Actually," said Shino, raising a finger, "wouldn't it help you to instruct us if you knew our names?"

Anko shrugged. "Fair point. To save time, just give me your last names, starting with you," she indicated the Aburame. When all surnames had been given, Anko led them to a different training ground. By that time, Asuma and Kurenai had showed up and were following behind their teams with bemused expressions. Kakashi had no yet showed up. When the gray-haired Jounin finally did arrive, he had missed the first half-hour of stretching and training.

* * *

"Keep your knees up!" Anko yelled gleefully. Naruto tried and almost failed to regain his balance. He was standing on one leg near the center of a beam that was several meters long and raised him half a meter off the ground. A large bucket of water was strapped to his head and a cord wound around his wrists, securing them behind his back. His instructions were to not fall and to not spill any water. When he had mounted the beam, Anko had not told him that she would be chucking things at him and that he would have to dodge while still adhering to his instructions. His only consolation was that his fellow genin were engaged in similar activities nearby.

"Isn't this more of a test a balance than anything to do with flexibility?" he called, taking one step forward and then two back to avoid the knee-height senbon that streaked past.

"What does it matter which I start with? You'll learn both in the end or _die trying_!" The purple-haired woman yelled. "Next I'll make you do it on your hands!"

Naruto groaned. "How do I stop the water from spilling if I'm walking on my hands?" he asked, bending his knees and taking three long smooth strides. He couldn't afford to run, or he might tip the bucket.

"I wasn't planning to make you carry water," Anko said with a nasty grin. "I have something else in mind." Pausing only to hurl two wooden senbon and one metal one, she dashed off to heckle other people.

Naruto dodged and wondered if he could cheat the balancing test by sticking his feet to the beam with chakra. He decided against it, however. If he relied too much on his chakra to hold him on, he could end up face-first in the grass with his feet stretched above his head, still stuck to the beam. He advanced a step. If only he could use his arms. Could he perhaps reach a kunai to cut his hands free? He tried, and nearly toppled off trying to reach his bound hands around to where his holster always hung. Then he remembered that he had removed his kunai pouch before getting up on the beam anyway. Damnation! He took a few steps forward, but was forced back when an unexpected kunai came whirling past his face. He was close to the end of the beam…if he could just make it…. "Ah!" seemingly out of nowhere, a long strip of wood poked him in the face. He flinched, his balance lost momentarily, but it was enough. He toppled sideways off the beam and lay on the ground, no even caring about the puddle he was lying in. It took a few minutes to muster the energy and will required to just sit up.

When he had, he began twisting his wrists and flexing his fingers, trying to get free. When he saw it wasn't working, he tried to pull his legs through his arms and bring his hands around to the front. All this succeeded in doing was rolling him onto his back. He stared at the sky, acutely aware of the cold water soaking into his shirt. _This isn't such a horrible way to die,_ Naruto thought miserably.

Suddenly, a purple-headed face loomed into sight, grinning. Naruto felt a blush spread across his face and forced his eyes closed against his will. The view of Anko from his position was unbelievably good. _If I don't die of embarrassment first, Hinata will disown me,_ Naruto thought. It was a minute or so before he felt a small digging and twisting as Anko cut him free of his ropes. Hastily, he sat up to unfasten the bucket from his head. He turned to find his peers, all on the ground in similar positions that he had been in, varying due to the challenge they had been assigned. It was only when he stood up straight that he fully appreciated the aches of his muscles. His arms hurt from being twisted around behind him and his neck and back hurt from the heavy bucket of water. On top of that, he was soaked as thoroughly as a water-walking practice would leave him. His wrists burned and his legs shook from the strain of running and balancing simultaneously.

Rubbing his wrists, he retrieved his kunai pouch and went to help Anko release some of his peers who had also been tied up. When all were free and sitting up groaning, Jaitan gathered them all together, graciously allowing them to remain seated. Anko leered from beside him. "Alright," he said, "what did you learn?"

A silence greeted his words. Mostly what they had learned was how crazy and ruthless their new sensei was, but they had no doubt that it need not be said aloud. Jaitan gave an exaggerated sigh, his second body stepping up to stand directly next to him. "How about, 'training is hard?' That's a simple concept. Most likely all of you can grasp that." He received a chorus of fervent nods. "You see, I've been going relatively easy on you guys. From now on, we shall have to multitask in your training regime. If you do not train hard, you'll never make it past the chunin exams, not to mention surviving your first B- or A-class mission. So, now you've had a bit of a rest-"

Kiba interrupted with a howl of anger. "A rest! We've only been sitting here for a minute!" Kiba was rubbing his left arm with his right while his hand was cupped over his eye. There was no evidence that this was the case, but Naruto fully expected for that eye to come out ringed by a truly spectacular bruise in a few hours. In fact, as Naruto looked around, all of the others were nursing minor injuries and sitting in a way that suggested sore muscles and bruises. He looked down at his own wrists, searching for evidence of the rough ropes that had bound them. When he had been untied, there had indeed been red, flayed-looking patches of skin there. Now however, his skin was pale and smooth and whole looking. He sat up straighter, noting the absence of most of his aches. He gave silent thanks to the Kyuubi, and could almost fool himself that he received a gruff '_Don't mention it'_ in return. But not quite.

Jaitan overrode Kiba's objections of overwork with a forceful, "Get used to it. You're a ninja, tough, resilient, deadly. Now act like it. I want you all water walking by the day after tomorrow at sunrise. Yes, even you Naruto," Jaitan said, noting Naruto's jerk of surprise. "I've been letting you take your time, experimenting and testing your strengths. Now, I want definite results by sunrise the day after tomorrow, or I will not allow you to enter the chunin exams when they come this year. They're only a few months off. It may seem like a long time now, but trust me, you'll need every minute of that time to plan and strategize."

Dismally, Naruto resigned himself to spending the next day and a half soaking wet. All of his peers could at least stand on the water for a minute or so with varying degrees of success. Almost all of them could actually walk already. The best he had managed was a weak sort of water-standing that kept him just under the surface for a few seconds, before he slowly sank until his feet rested on the sandy bottom of the pond. He just could not hold himself up for longer than that.

So, when Jaitan dismissed them to start working, Naruto went straight to Hinata. She could water-stand forever and a day and could take a few steps at a time if she rested in between every couple of steps. She was second only to Sakura, who could walk on the water, but didn't have enough chakra to hold her up for very long. Even the memory of the pinkette standing on the water in the middle of the lake and suddenly yelling that she had run out of chakra and promptly falling right in as if dragged from below couldn't cheer Naruto up at this point. His face must have looked grim as he approached Hinata. At any rate, she looked rather nervous as he came closer. He noticed and struggled to arrange his face into a more pacific expression. "Hinata," he said, "Can you give me a little help? Pointers? Anything?"

"Of course, Naruto-kun," the lavender-eyed girl said without hesitation. She led him over to the pond where the other genin were already floating, taking tentative steps and whirling arms for balance. Naruto dimly noted that Kiba had taken it upon himself to teach Akamaru water-walking. The little puppy could now do it better than the Inuzuka. Akamaru was running in little circles around Kiba's feet, barking shrilly.

Hinata took hold of Naruto's forearm. "Now," she said quietly, "show me what you've been doing." Naruto complied. He lifted up his left foot, concentrating hard on the chakra flowing from the sole of his foot. He took his time and, when he was sure of the diffuse layers of chakra radiating from the soles of both of his feet, he stepped forward. He stood, wobbling slightly, trying valiantly to maintain the flow of chakra to his feet. After a moment or so however, he was aware that he was gripping Hinata's shoulder quite unacceptable hard in order to keep himself up. He loosened his grip slightly and found himself sinking. Hinata helped him out of the water, his tan cargo pants wet and brown at the cuffs. Morosely, he took off his sandals, first tipping water out of the heels where it had pooled and then wringing out the sodden footwear.

"That was pretty good," Hinata said. Naruto raised his eyebrows. "W-well, I guess you don't r-really need to hear that. How to improve. Okay. Is concentrating on your chakra f-flow the problem? Too m-many distractions?"

"Not really. I mean, sometimes I get distracted, but that doesn't seem to affect my chakra flow."

"I can make a s-suggestion. I know Jaitan told us that making a layer of chakra on the bottoms of our feet to float isn't the solution, but I think you should try it anyway. Make a layer on the bottoms of your feet, th-then step onto the water and start pushing your chakra past the layer and into the water and condense it to make surface tension. Then stand on the surface tension while you keep the layer of chakra on the soles of your feet."

This plan sounded plausible to Naruto. He did have ridiculously large reserves to draw on, so chakra exhaustion wasn't an issue. This time, Hinata offered her shoulder for Naruto to lean on. He did so reluctantly. He kept asking if he was leaning on her too hard. She kept denying it, insisting that she would be fine. As little as he wanted to, Naruto decided to do as she suggested; stop worrying about her and get a move on. He only had until sunrise the day after next.

He lifted one foot after another, concentrating on creating a buoyant layer of chakra on the sole of each. When he was satisfied, he did not, though tempted, step straight onto the water to begin the test. His experiences with tree-climbing had taught him that it was best not to rush tings like new techniques. Instead, he prepped himself to channel chakra through the layers and to stiffen and bond the extra chakra into a skin of tension. He then refreshed the layers on the soles of his feet and set the first foot down on top of the water. Quickly, his second foot followed. He balanced for a moment, barely aware of the vice-like grip he was exerting on Hinata's shoulder, too intent was he on channeling and diffusing chakra through the buoyant layers already in place. When the extra chakra was plentiful enough, and without a moment to lose, he gathered it together, pressing the chakra tight and thin and allowing for enough flexibility and buoyancy to let it sit on top of the water. Slowly, he felt the thin invisible skins bear him up. He was concentrating fiercely, the effort of maintaining the two different sets of chakra forms etching a deep furrow across the bridge of his nose.

He barely noticed when Hinata shifted under his hand, transferring his grip to her own hand. She stepped out onto the surface of the lake alongside him, letting him use her hand to balance. Carefully, her eyes fixed on his, she took hold of his other hand and spread that arm out for better balance. She began to slide her feet along; an action that she had discovered was easier to perform than lifting up her foot to take a step. Unconsciously, Naruto mimicked her, sliding his foot up to follow hers and pulling the invisible area of tension with him. His eyes flicked up for the briefest moment to connect with hers. It wasn't a large distraction, but it was enough to break the fragile double concentration he was exerting. He overbalanced and sat down hard in the water, drenching his clothes and hair and dragging Hinata down on top of him.

Hinata made only a half-hearted effort to stand up, aware that all of the other floating shinobi had turned to seek the source of the splash. She turned a little red when she realized that Naruto was making no move to get up, either. She turned to face him, cheeks flushed with embarrassment, mouth open and already forming an apology, as though it was her fault that she had been pulled down on top of him. The words died in her throat, however, as she met his piercing blue gaze. His face was flushed from exertion to match her own and his mouth was spreading into a grin of excitement. With the air of one acting without conscious thought, Naruto threw his arms around her, sending up sprays of sand-choked water. For a dizzying moment, Hinata was sure that he would kiss her right there in front of everyone.

Naruto really wanted to kiss her. She was a genius! A total genius! He struggled internally; arms clasped around her wet coat, holding her tightly to him and chin resting on her shoulder. Though his instinct was to kiss her firmly on the lips, he resisted, not without difficulty. He knew she would be mortified at such an emotionally colored display made in public where anyone could happen to see it. He bit his lip, but still could not hold back the smile.

Then he heard a single word from her. "Again?" Naruto had to fight not to do something a little more drastic than kissing. Such a thing as he was thinking of would cause Sakura and Ino to leave him with lifelong scars.

He contented himself with tightening the embrace and whispering a single word reply, "Naturally." He felt Hinata's thin arms slid up around his back and give him as good as she was getting.

When then finally broke apart, Hinata helped him to his feet, soaked through and blushing furiously, but standing straight, as if daring any of the people watching her to comment. They had the sense not to say anything outright, though small whispers broke out across the pond.

Hinata led Naruto back to the shore. They repeated the process in rather less time than it had taken the first time. Naruto let Hinata tow him across the water, sliding his feet and concentrating hard on his chakra flow. They practiced for hours, until all spectators had left. It was only then that Naruto felt the slightest confidence in his own ability. This time, he had Hinata tow him out a little way and then released her, holding his arms out for balance. When he was sure he wasn't going to topple over, he shuffled along, sliding his feet and focusing mainly on his chakra flow. He was out to the slightly deeper part of the pond before he realized it and promptly fell in. Hinata hung back, waiting for him to resurface. Then she remembered he couldn't swim. She rushed over to him and hauled him up. He quickly formed buoyant casings of chakra around his bare feet to help him back up to the surface. When he was floating, tipping dangerously from side to side, he hastily reformed the surface tension of chakra that he was now adept at making. He then towed Hinata back to the shore, insisting that it was good practice.

When they finally made it back to solid ground, Naruto picked up his sandals in one hand and Hinata's hand in the other. They determined that he would walk her back to the gates of her clan compound and she would stop by his apartment building the next morning to collect him on their way to resume water-walking practice.

* * *

Naruto held his arms out and bent his knees slightly. He had never thought of balancing on two legs as particularly difficult before now, but he suddenly felt like a second pair of legs would be really useful right about now. He made a mental note to ask the Kyuubi about this. He didn't need his balance thrown off by taking a step and expecting there to be more legs than he had. He gave his head a little shake to clear it of such thoughts.

Refocusing his eyes, he saw Hinata coming over, worried that he hadn't taken a step yet. Naruto waved her back. He didn't need her to walk all the way over to him for nothing. She had her own water-walking to improve on.

It was morning. He and Hinata had been practicing for only an hour or so, yet they still had the whole pond to themselves. Jaitan had decreed that there would be no formal training that day, so the responsibility of mastering of water-walking was entirely up to the genin. Naruto expected most of the others to drift in at about noon, except for Shikamaru. He fully expected it to be four o'clock before Shika bothered to turn up. For now, at least, the space was empty but for Naruto and Hinata.

Naruto closed his eyes, adjusting the flexible skin of chakra he was standing on as the breeze ruffled the surface of the water. He was going to try to lift his foot and take an actual step. Hinata had offered that he hold on to her when he tried this, but his pride had forced him to (politely) turn her down.

Careful not to stop channeling chakra to the sole of his right foot, Naruto slowly lifted up his left foot and balanced on the right. He left the thin coating of chakra surrounding his left foot as he moved it forward. As soon as it touched the water again, he began channeling more chakra in order to make a skin as quickly as possible. As usual, he overdid it. The chakra, instead of forming a skin, gushed outward in a thick spray, rebounding and creating choppy waves in the water.

Naruto lay facedown, floating on his front. _Not quite right,_ he thought grimly. _Okay, try again._ He got up and retreated to shallower water before trying again. This time, as he was meticulously gathering chakra under the foot he was putting down, he forgot to maintain the chakra cushion under the stationary foot. He landed with a jarring bump in the sand, miraculously still upright. Unsteadily, he floated his feet back up to the surface and tried again. It was half an hour before he succeeded in taking his first step. An hour later, he was able to take three in a row without falling in.

When others started coming to practice, Hinata came over beside Naruto and they practiced together. Hinata's water-walking was reasonably good, but she had trouble taking more than a dozen steps in a row without resting and still tipped and slid dangerously if a large wave disturbed her. Her presence by Naruto's side, though he wasn't sure if he should tell her, was giving him a crash-course on water-walking while being constantly and fiendishly distracted. It helped a little, and Naruto knew that the next day Hinata would not be right there beside him while he was being tested and he would find that his concentration had improved at least comparatively to when Hinata was in his line of vision if not otherwise.

By the time the sun was staining the sky Naruto's former favorite shade of orange at one end and dark watery blue at the other, Hinata was completely drained. She had managed to walk clear across the pond only stopping for two five-minute breaks during a time when the pond was mirror smooth and still. She was even able to run for a few seconds, something that was Naruto's fault that she knew.

Naruto in turn could walk about nine meters if he took it really slowly. He did not have to rest out of chakra exhaustion, but occasionally he would be distracted and his chakra would lose shape for a few precious seconds. To that end, he found that leaving the thin layer of chakra around his feet at all times was a good idea; it bought him a few seconds to work with so that he wouldn't be submerged if he stopped creating surface tension for a moment or so. He fervently hoped that his achievements would be enough for Jaitan to pass him during tomorrow's test. After bidding Hinata goodnight, he went back to his apartment and fell into bed, wondering if it was even worth it to change into his pajamas. Before he had reached a decision, he was out like a light.

* * *

Naruto was up at dawn. He sat fully dressed on the edge of the bed, debating if he were actually naïve enough to go and disturb Oscar. He decided that he was. He knocked on the door in the hallway rather than the one between the rooms. After a moment of silence, he knocked again, louder this time. There was a sound of swearing and the unmistakable clang of a forehead protector that has been hurled at the wall with great force. The door was opened a tiny crack and a single brown eye peered out, hostile and aggressive. "What?" the dark boy asked flatly.

"The sun's up," Naruto said nervously, taking a prudent step back. "Jaitan-sensei said that the test was at sunrise."

Oscar covered his eyes with one hand and groaned softly. "I'm sure he was exaggerating, Naruto," he said.

"Have you ever known Jaitan-sensei to exaggerate?"

"Point. Go on, then. I'll catch up. On the off chance that sensei _was_ exaggerating, please send a shadow clone back to tell me. Thank you and goodbye." The dark boy shut the door with a snap. After a moment's hesitation, Naruto left.

* * *

When he reached the training grounds, he found that everyone else must have assumed that Jaitan had been exaggerating when he said 'sunrise,' as well. Not even Sakura, who made it a point to always be punctual, had yet arrived. Naruto was in time to see the two Jaitans form identical seals. Very familiar seals. Recognition kicked in when there was a small puff of smoke beside each of Jaitan's bodies and five shadow clones appeared at the center of each cloud. The true Jaitans held hands, presumably so as not to be separated as all of the shadow clones set off, scattering and streaking out of the field as though each was certain of his individual destination. When the clearing was empty but for the two originals and Naruto, the Jaitans dropped hands.

"Uh," Naruto said by way of announcing his presence, "I hope one of those wasn't meant to fetch me."

Four gray eyes found Naruto's face, betraying not a flicker of surprise between them. "It is true, I did just send a clone for you, but that can be easily rearranged." Jaitan closed one pair of eyes, formed a seal and dispelled the clone. Naruto was impressed that he could do it from such a distance.

"I have a question," Naruto said, "If you dispel all of your clones at once, does it give you a headache?"

"An interesting question. If I were to dispel my clones simultaneously, I suppose it might handicap me for a short time, depending on how many clones I had dispelled. However, I am careful to dispel my clones only one at a time so that I may avoid that side effect. Frankly, the rate at which your clones normally die, I am astounded as to how you keep from ending up more severely incapacitated than by experiencing a headache."

Naruto shrugged. He had a suspicion that it had something to do with the Kyuubi, but that was a question to pursue another time.

"So, Naruto, are you prepared for this morning's test?" Jaitan asked.

Naruto feigned horror. "We have a test today?"

"Yes." Naruto face-faulted. He could almost hear his sarcastic comment's leave as it made a tiny whistling noise above his sensei's head.

"Can I take mine before the others get here?" Naruto asked. If he went first, the water would be calmer and much easier to walk on.

"If you prefer," Jaitan shrugged.

The two, or rather three, of them crossed the short distance to the pond, where Jaitan stepped onto the surface, politely waiting while Naruto removed his sandals. When Naruto was ready, Jaitan gave his final instructions. Naruto had to walk one third of the way across the pond and then back to shore. He could take his time, but would have to start over if he fell in. Naruto nodded, glad that no one else was around to see his insecurity. Things had gone so well the day before, but Hinata had been there… Here his thoughts trailed off and a new shell of determination encased his nervousness. He had to succeed for Hinata. She was the first to have looked up to him and he couldn't let her down.

For what seemed like the longest time, Naruto just stood on the bank, lifting up one foot, then the other until his was sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that the jutsu would work. It was only then that he dared to place one foot on the water, quickly followed by the other. When the skins of chakra under his feet were as firm and stable as he could make them, he began to walk, lifting one foot, molding his chakra, setting it down and repeating. By the time he was one third of the way across the pond, all of the other students had arrived. He was so focused that he didn't realize they were there even when he turned around to walk back. Halfway back, a sound caught his attention and he chanced a glance upward. He desperately wanted to seek out Hinata, but he knew that the distraction it would cause would be too great for him to handle. Even the tiny flick of a look had been a little too much. He was already sinking and it took him a few precious moments to struggle back up to the surface, by which time he was shaking and worried. He put out a foot to take a step and put it down a little too forcefully, causing him to scramble to create more surface tension.

He stood still, relaxing his shoulders and focusing only on chakra flow. If possible, he would have closed his eyes, but that was out of the question. He resorted to keeping his gaze fixed on the water beneath him. He took a step, then another. Before he knew it, his feet rested on grass and mud rather than water and Hinata had thrown herself on him, hugging him so tightly that he though his ribs would crack. Her energy nearly knocked him backwards, but he steadied himself in time to put his own arms around her. It was only then that he became aware that every one of his fellow genin was applauding and whistling as loudly as he had ever heard anyone be at the crack of dawn. It gave him a warm, cared-for feeling as he broke apart from Hinata in order to face his sensei. Jaitan gave a single thumbs-up and mouthed the word, "Pass."

* * *

A/N: Okay, well, this was the longest I have ever taken to write a chapter, but in my defense, it is the longest chapter I have yet written. On the up side, there are now some really interesting events planed for post time skip!

-For those who remember the mention that Jaitan made in a previous chapter about his 'friend' he would have to talk to, Anko is not this friend. You will find this out later  
-Unfortunately, Naruto and Hinata did not kiss in this chapter, much to my annoyance  
-Anko will be teaching more later and so will Jaitan. I plan to spend more time on those lessons than I previously have, though not as much as I did in this chapter. I really beat water-walking to death :P  
-If you got the veiled Artemis Fowl reference, you impress me very very much  
-Next chapter, all the things that Naruto wanted to talk to the Kyuubi about will become clearer

To those who celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas. To those who celebrated Hannukah, I hope you enjoyed it. To all others who may have been overlook, my most profound apologies and sincerest best wishes. Have a good one!

The Log willing, the next chapter will come out much faster. and be a little better on the humor front. Bye! Read! Comment cause I really need it and it will make you feel better! Maybe! Definitely!


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter XVI

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Following Sasuke's advice, Naruto waited until his day off from training to approach Kurenai with his question. She was seated in a small dango booth, chatting unconcernedly with Anko when Naruto found her. When he requested a private audience with the illusion mistress, she stood up at once, her curiosity piqued by the odd request. Naruto had never sought her out before.

When they had retreated a short distance from Anko, Naruto took a deep breath. "Kurenai, I want to ask you something. It's about the Kyuubi."

Kurenai winced, glancing around. "Come with me," she whispered. Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed his hand and towed him behind the building neighboring the dango shack. She released him and leapt up to the roof of the building. Nonplussed, Naruto followed.

Only once the two of them were settled more-or-less comfortably on the roof of the building did Kurenai speak, and even then only in a whisper. "How do you know about the Kyuubi?"

"I thought everyone knew," Naruto said, avoiding the question. "Even your team knows."

This momentarily diverted Kurenai. She had to ask. "Really? How do they know?"

"I told all of the genin."

"You _what_? The Kyuubi is a Konoha secret! Talking about it is punishable by the Hokage himself."

"It's _my_ secret. Anyway, I know the Hokage personally as well as all of the people I told. I would trust any one of them with my life. If they or you get in trouble for talking about the Kyuubi with me, I'll have to have a word with Sarutobi-sama." Kurenai still hesitated. Naruto pressed on, "Can I at least ask you my question?"

Slowly and reluctantly, the illusion mistress gave an affirmative.

"Alright. Thanks. Last time I visited the Kyuubi and spoke to him inside my head, I felt as though I was gone for maybe an hour at most, but I woke up several hours after I went in. Do you know of any way that I could come back only a few minutes after I leave?"

Kurenai did not query how Naruto was able to speak to the Kyuubi. She simply sat in silence, chewing over his question. Finally, she spoke, "I have no prior knowledge of this kind of situation. Dealing with bijuu, I mean. Therefore, my advice may not work. All I can say is, when you arrive in whatever place you come to when speaking to the Kyuubi, make note of where exactly you are and be sure that you're in the same place when you're ready to leave."

"So, just make a mark on the floor where I come through and stand over it when I want to be sent back?"

"Exactly."

Naruto stood. "Thank you for your help, Kurenai-sensei," he said formally. "I'm going to go and try it now." Naruto walked toward the edge of the building. He paused before jumping to hear Kurenai's parting words.

"Naruto? Tell me how it works out."

Naruto nodded without turning around and leapt, quickly vanishing from sight.

* * *

Naruto found Sasuke waiting for him, most unusual behavior in the Uchiha. "What do you want?" Naruto asked, before Sasuke could say anything.

"Sure, don't look so glad to see me, someone might notice," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. "I know you're planning to talk to the Kyuubi again. I want to watch."

"You'll be wasting your time," Naruto said flatly, "all of the talking goes on inside. On the outside, I'll probably just be asleep for a while. A few minutes if I'm lucky, a few hours if I'm not."

"You're trying to put me off," Sasuke said sulkily. "I don't care. I've never seen that kind of thing before and I want to."

Naruto raised his hands in a defensive gesture. "Hey, if that's what you really want, who am I to stop you?"

"Where do you plan on being while making contact?"

"How about training ground seven? It's pretty secluded there, and I don't want to be interrupted talking to the demon who everyone in Konoha would love to kill."

"Fair enough," Sasuke agreed.

* * *

Naruto got settled on the ground leaning against one of the posts in the tiny clearing. He made a small prayerful gesture to the Almighty Log in thanks for the support provided by the post. Sasuke opted to remain standing and leaned against the post beside him. Naruto closed his eyes, trying to recall how he had found his way into the mindscape before. He tried imagining the Kyuubi's room with its stone walls and tall metal bars that reached up to the shadowy ceiling. In his mind's eye, he saw a silvery-blue thread connecting his consciousness to that room. He allowed the thread to draw him toward that place- to guide him.

This time, he arrived in the Kyuubi's room directly rather than in the dimly lit sewer beyond. He could hear the rushing water in the distance but was pleased to see that the floor, wooden bench, and censure that he had left before were still there, the flames from the censure casting writhing shadows and flickering light. Naruto held out a hand and envisioned a piece of chalk appearing in the air and rolling into his hand. The thin white cylinder formed directly in the palm of his hand. Keeping his feet as still as he could, he crouched down to trace around them. Then he set down the chalk and took two steps forward to be sure that he wouldn't smudge the lines later.

The Kyuubi crouched in his cage and watched Naruto's efforts before speaking.** "Back again, brat?"**

Naruto rolled his eyes. "No."

The Kyuubi's look instantly turned sour and he exposed his canines. **"Save your nasty attitude, brat. You owe me for allowing you to return to this place so easily, and for the information I gave you when last we met."**

"I don't think I owe you anything, really. I haven't been nearly as familiar with you as I am with the Hokage, or as rude. Just remember who can cause the most pain to whom in this relationship." Naruto sat down on the wooden bench, tipping his head back a little farther to maintain eye contact with the demon. "Anyway, I have a couple more questions for you."

"**Naturally. I have never known a race of beings as nosy as you humans. It is my hope that you don't come here for the company. If you did, I'd have to make it much more painful to get in here."**

"Whatever. I want to ask about shadow clones. I'm supposed to be getting all of the memories that my shadow clones get after they're dispelled, but only a few have been coming back. I guess it's a good thing, because my sensei says that getting them all back at once could knock me out, but still, I might need some of those memories. Do you know where they went? Do you know how I can have them to easily access without passing out? Especially any new ones I might want to make."

"**Yes, ungrateful human, I know where those experiences are, how you can reach them, how to access new memories in the future once you make them- I know it all. I also know exactly what would have happened to you had I not blocked most of those memories that your clones made from entering your conscious mind. An action that must undeniably place you in my debt."**

"Sure. Whatever. Just tell me what I want to know."

"**I see that patience is not your virtue. Your memories are right here." **The Kyuubi shifted to one side, not an easy feat for the massive fox in the confines of the cage. Behind him was a floating sphere the size of the Hyuuga clan compound. It was a brilliant scarlet color that emitted a very faint light in the shadows of the cage. The Kyuubi raised a foreleg and caught hold of it, bringing it around in front of him to float at chest-height for him, though Naruto still had to crane his neck to see it. Behind the red barrier, Naruto could just catch glimpses of what looked like insubstantial blue ribbons, looping and swirling and flickering. "**I would suggest allowing me to retrieve them. It would be ill advised for you to enter."**

"And why is that?" Naruto asked, hoping that his skepticism hadn't been as obvious in his voice as he thought it had been.

The Kyuubi gave him a blank, nasty look. **"Because they exist without definite form, save for faint chakra signatures."**

"So? What's your point?"

"**At this moment, they sense your proximity and are all attempting to rejoin you simultaneously, the consequences of which would almost certainly paralyze you for a time. I have surrounded them in a bubble of my own youki to stop that from happening. If you would like, I can return them to you while you sleep over the next few nights so that you will not experience the effects. In future, I can do the same, providing immediate access to important memories and give you the rest while you sleep."**

"That sounds ideal. How do I experience them once you put them in my consciousness?"

"**They will be accessible in the same way your own memories are; you will most likely see or hear something that will trigger a recall."**

"Okay. That's pretty straightforward." Naruto kneaded the back of his neck with one hand. "Ouch. It's kind of inconvenient to stare up at you whenever I have to talk to you, Kyuubi." Naruto paused, thinking. "How would it be," he asked slowly, "If I figured out a way to make you a bit smaller? Then you could walk out of that cage and explore. It should be fine if the seal is undisturbed."

The Kyuubi snorted derisively, **"It is a pleasant image you paint, human boy, but it would be beyond your power to change my size without changing my form as well. What do you intend to do, turn me into one of your kind?"**

"Why not? What good has being a fox done you? At least if you were human-shaped, you'd been human-sized, too. You really could just walk out of the cage. I mean, as long as the resizing wouldn't change your ability to filter my clones' memories." Naruto looked up into the Kyuubi's red eyes with anxious blue ones.

"**No, I don't think it would effect my powers. However, wouldn't that make us equals in your eyes? Two humans? I would rather remain a fox."**

"A trapped fox rather than a free human? Your pride is more important than your comfort?"

"**Yes."**

"As you keep saying, I owe you. And-"

"**You're going to repay me by changing my form whether I want you to or not?"**

"Yes. And since I have no idea what I'm doing, your cooperation would probably help to make this as painless as possible."

** "Even from a mortal, I would not have expected a course of action so foolish. You won't dare try to change me against my will."**

"Oh yeah? We'll see. Now shut up before I knock you unconscious to make this easier."

**"Don't even think about it. Don't you even think."**

"Is that an order?"

**"Yes, brat, it is."**

"I don't know. I think it sounded more like a challenge to me. I'm going to change you and then maybe you'll recognize that your power doesn't count for anything in here." Naruto stopped for a beat, remembering his very first shadow clone and what that clone had said. The demon interrupted his thoughts, however.

**"You dare defy me? I am the most powerful of the-" **

"Yeah, yeah. I'm starting now. If you value any nerve endings you possess, you will be quiet now." To Naruto's satisfaction, the Kyuubi did indeed fall silent, though he was not still. He scrapped his claws across the floor, eyes narrowed to malevolent slits. Naruto took a good long look at the demon fox, fixing the image firmly in his mind. Then he stood up and closed his eyes. In his mind, he pictured the Kyuubi. Then, he altered the picture ever so slightly. Now, to his mind's eye it looked as if the Kyuubi were a large fox-shaped net of red chakra that was filled and kept in shape by the densely packed youki inside. The net was, in fact, the Kyuubi's skin. Naruto reached out with imaginary hands and took hold of the red glowing net. So focused was he that the heat searing the skin from his hands of his body in the mindscape barely registered. He wove his fingers into the net of chakra, tangling them until they had pulled the fox's skin every so slightly out of shape. Then he began to twist, as one would to the neck of a plastic bag full of air to make it pop. Instead of popping, Naruto could feel the youki that filled the Kyuubi crowd together beneath the skin as he twisted it smaller and tighter. On top of that, he was using whatever of his mind that was not concentrated on this task to will the huge fox to become something closer to his own shape and size. He persisted for about about a quarter of and hour before it registered that the Kyuubi's presence was now definitely smaller, though he didn't dare open his eyes. In any case, making the towering demon 'much smaller' did not mean that the Kyuubi was anywhere near human size.

Naruto persisted, twisting the net and gathering the slack parts which he then draped over one arm. He gave a further tug and the air was shattered by a scream of pain. Naruto's eyes jumped open automatically and it was only sheer luck that he did not release the net of chakra. The Kyuubi's eyes were rolled back and he was practically thrashing in pain. Naruto barely noticed that he was half the size he had been before.

"What went wrong?" Naruto gasped, horrified.

**"Nothing," **the Kyuubi choked. **"Keep going. Stopping now could be worse than continuing until the end." **It was getting more and more difficult for the Kyuubi to draw even breaths.

"But it's hurting you!" Naruto exclaimed.

**"I've felt worse. I can take it. Anyway, it's hurting you, too. Don't stop."**

Naruto looked down at his hands. The ropes of the net were faintly visible leading from his hands to the Kyuubi, glowing a translucent red. Beneath the ropes, his hands were blistering and peeling and there were long welts were the chakra ropes touched his skin directly. Now that the Kyuubi had drawn attention to it, he could feel the pain in those welts; starting as a dull throb and rising to such a sharp peak that his vision was momentarily obscured by a series of black whorls and blobs. He shook his head, forcing the pain to the back of his mind. He couldn't deal with it just then. He had to finish what he'd started.

He closed his eyes again so as not to see the pain he was putting the demon through and willed stronger than ever that the Kyuubi assume a human form. He twisted hard and fast trying to minimize the time it would take. He did wish that the Kyuubi would stop making those distracting screams, though.

After what seemed like an hour of twisting and suffering through the pain in his hands, he felt a very final sort of jerk and opened his eyes to see the last few strands of the Kyuubi's net stretching back into the darkness of the cage. He was sure that the Kyuubi was as small as he was going to get and equally sure that whatever was going to come out of the cage wouldn't be quite human. He unclenched his cramped and bleeding hands from around the net, which fell to the floor and seemed to dissolve from the visible spectrum. Naruto watched it completely disappear before turning his eyes to the cage.

The silent and apparently lifeless shadows that the cage held were unusually sinister to the young blonde. He sank onto the wooden bench as his physical and emotional aches caught up to him. He sat unspeaking for several minutes, savoring and yet unaccountably frightened by the hush. The only thing he could hear was the quiet rushing of water in the sewers beyond the chamber. Finally, when he felt up to it, Naruto raised his head and called in a soft voice, "Kyuubi? Kyuubi no Yoko? Where are you?"

There was a slight pause of several seconds before an answering voice came from the depths of the cage. "Here." Naruto was relieved to hear the voice, quiet though it was and little though he actually liked the Kyuubi. He was startled, however, at how low to the ground the voice was. The process must have worked to some extent.

"Come out here where I can see you," Naruto said. There was a small shuffling noise as a figure came into sight. Naruto balked. The once-so-mighty Kyuubi had been reduced to the form of a human child no older than five or six. He would have been half Naruto's height if Naruto were standing and was clothed in a red tee shirt and black shorts. That was the least of the strangeness, however. The diminutive figure's hair was curiously and unattractively done in nine plaits that that were braided tight to his scalp and hung almost to his shoulders, a look that did not go well at all with the red-gold color of the hair. Naruto lowered his eyes slightly to meet the accusing glare of the small child's red, slit-pupil eyes.

"What did you do?" the Kyuubi asked in a low voice that seemed to radiate malice and contempt.

Naruto wasn't quite sure what to say. He settled for holding out a hand and manipulating the mindscape in such a way that a small round mirror arrived in it. He held it up for the Kyuubi to see into. The child's eyes widened. "What the hell did you do?" he asked turning his head from side to side.

"I don't know what went wrong. You are probably the ugliest child I have ever seen," Naruto said, unable to hold back a malicious grin.

The Kyuubi glared at him. "This is entirely your fault, human. I told you not to try and change my form in the first place!"

"Hey, you can't call me 'human' anymore! You're one too! Anyway, I say this form is an improvement. You can't talk down to me anymore, either. What should I call you?"

"Insolent brat! You will continue calling me by my name, Kyuubi no Yoko."

"Aww, are you going to throw a tantrum now?" Naruto asked in a mock-concerned voice. "Is the little Kyuubi's new form affecting his brain patterns?"

The Kyuubi gave a low growl. "Keep it up, brat. Much more and I might just decide not to give your memories back at all." The Kyuubi's expression of fury gave way to one of cruel satisfaction as Naruto made little spluttering noises of indignation.

"You don't mean that, do you?" Naruto said incredulously.

"Unfortunately, no. I am fully aware that you will be able to control and compel me even more completely now that I am in this shape." Something in the Kyuubi's voice gave Naruto pause. There was resentment there, but there was also wistfulness and, unless he was mistaken, a great deal of pain. It occurred to him that the Kyuubi's displays of power and ferocity were driven by more than pure anger at his captors. The great demon might claim to know nothing of the emotions of human beings, but perhaps he knew the meaning of pain better than most people Naruto knew. The Kyuubi had been brutally imprisoned and the bars that had always restricted him had proved less of a physical barrier and more of a psychological one, constantly and cruelly reminding the beast of his powerlessness. Perhaps some of the reason for his displays of power when he had met Naruto had been the same as Naruto's displays of disinterest to the civilians of Konoha; that he did not want to admit how much he was hurting on the inside.

In realizing this, Naruto realized that he had been just as harsh to the Kyuubi when they had met as the Yondaime had been in imprisoning him. Hadn't he asserted and demonstrated his own power by taunting and then injuring the beast? Hadn't he just further humiliated him by overriding the demon's objections and changing the beast's very form? Naruto felt a deep sense of guilt. Perhaps, deep down where it really counted, he was every inch the horrible demon that everyone in Konoha had always told him that he was.

He tried to banish the feeling, reminding himself of the hundreds of people the Kyuubi had killed in his attack against Konoha. But then again, before Mizuki had set him straight, he had always assumed that he knew everything about the Kyuubi attack. Had always assumed the Yondaime had completely won out over the beast and was the noble hero of the picture. Though bits of that story were true, the big picture was looking more and more confused and incomplete with every passing minute. Could it be possible that the part of the story containing the Kyuubi's willingness to attack was flawed? At the very least, he had an obligation to the demon to hear his side of the story. But not yet. Naruto knew that he would need more time to think over these revelations before he was ready to broach the subject with the demon himself. For now, a change in attitude would be most appropriate.

Naruto's gaze, which had been wandering along with his train of thought, came back into focus and searched for the red orbs of the Kyuubi's recently altered eyes. To his slight surprise, he discovered the small child-like form perched on the farthest end of the wooden bench from him, arms wrapped around his legs and chin resting on his knees. He looked unusually vulnerable like that, and Naruto's newfound uncertainty about the demon's history deepened. He gave a small throat-clearing cough and the childish face turned to his, red eyes locking onto blue.

"Yes?" the Kyuubi asked, a note of hostility in his voice.

"I've just been thinking."

"About time," the Kyuubi grunted. "Out with it, brat."

"Well, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" the Kyuubi interrupted again. "Do you pity my imprisoned condition? Save your sympathy. I don't need it, nor do I want it."

"No, I was going to say I'm sorry for putting you through that transformation without discussing it with you. I know it hurt and I had no right to do something like that to you."

"Oh, but you _do_ have the right. As master in this body and this mindscape, you have the authority and the right to exercise your power in any way you want to. I may not like it, but there is nothing I can do about it. My kind, the demon kind, that is, is set farther below your own every time an old Jinchiriki outlives its usefulness and a new one is created. I am bound by your will and must fulfill your wishes in every way. This is not a new concept, nor are you my first jailer."

Naruto was unwilling to pry into such a painful topic, so he let the subject of the Kyuubi's previous hosts pass uncommented on. "I know, Kyuubi. I know the way things are. Let me tell you, after what I've seen and done and heard today, I do not blame you in the slightest your resentment. I would feel the same way in your position, and would probably be handling it much less gracefully." Naruto broke eye contact just long enough to stand up walk over so that he was directly in front of the Kyuubi and kneel down, intentionally setting his eye level several inches below the child's. The Kyuubi was surprised enough to release his grip on his knees and let his legs slide forward and dangle from the edge of the bench. Naruto continued, "After the way I have personally treated you, I will not blame you if your attitude toward me does not change in the least. All I want is to treat you like a person, instead of a kind of temperamental chakra battery. From now on, I will do my best to allow you full control of my mindscape, particularly when I am not here, and I promise I will consult you if I ever need to use your chakra for anything. What do you think?"

"I think you are insane, human. I am a demon, no matter how I appear at the moment, and you are talking about putting a level of trust in me that I have never known. I don't know the human words for gratitude, but that is what I want to give you. Your trust is a gift that I will remember even after you die and I am moved to another body."

Naruto nodded but still did not rise from his kneeling position. "Is there anything else you need to tell me or ask from me before I leave?"

"Actually, petty though I know it will sound, I have one request."

"Name it."

An emotion that Naruto found hard to place flitted across the pale face. It seemed to be a combination of apprehension and shame. "This child's body seems to be playing havoc with my emotions. I would be obliged- that is, if it's not too much trouble- if you would keep visiting me from time to time. Tonight I will return your memories as promised, but you are a most intriguing human and I feel certain that I will want to speak with you again."

"Of course, Kyuubi-kun." Naruto rose and offered a hand. Slightly uncertainly, the Kyuubi shook it. Naruto gave a brief smile and walked away, eyes scanning the floor for the chalk outlines of his footprints so that he could, in theory, return home only minutes after he left.

He found the outlines and fitted his feet into them carefully before willing his consciousness to assume control of his forebrain and physical self once more.

* * *

When his eyes slid open, the sight of the trees in training ground seven occupied his line of vision. He was considerably less sore than he had been the last time he returned from the mindscape, but that was his only reference point for the passage of time, as the trees around him also mostly hid the position of the sun. All he needed was his dark-haired angel beside him to greet him as soon as he was fully conscious. He looked up at the slight sound of movement to see Sasuke staring at him, still standing leaning against a post. _Damn,_ Naruto thought, _dark-haired yes, angel no._

Naruto lifted a hand and gave a little wave. Sasuke's incessant staring was starting to creep him out a little. "Yosh, Sasuke-kun. Anyone home?"

"Welcome back, dobe."

"Why thank you, teme. How long was I gone?"

"A surprisingly short time. Do you honestly expect me to believe that you were talking to the Kyuubi no Yoko for the last five minutes?"

"No I do not, teme. I expect you believe that I was meeting with Kyuubi-kun for what felt like three or four hours to me and was apparently five minutes out here. Did you miss me?"

Sasuke ignored the question. "What did you talk about?"

"The usual. Jinchiriki stuff." Naruto gave a fake yawn, relishing how frustrated he was making his teammate.

"It's not funny, Naruto-kun." Naruto looked Sasuke straight in the eyes, taken aback by the honorific. "While you were doing whatever you were doing in there, your body went all still and silent out here. I could barely see or hear your breathing and I didn't even want to check your pulse in case that demon in your head had killed you. I'm your teammate and your friend and I was scared for you. What happened in there?"

"You really want to know?"

"I'm not going to ask again, dobe."

"Alright, I'll tell you." And he did. The Uchiha made a pretty good audience, until he reached the part where he had turned the Kyuubi into a human child.

"You're shitting me," Sasuke said. "You, Naruto Uzumaki, who can barely read, might I add, converted the most powerful of the nine bijuu into a little kid? One, I find that hard to believe and two, if it's true I bet he had something to say about it."

"Hey! I'm working on the reading thing. Sakura's been taking a couple of my clones and drilling them every other day after training. It's not going very quickly, though. Maybe I'll ask Hinata for help. Anyway, that's beside the point." he went on to recount the rest of his story.

The Uchiha shook his head bemusedly as the story drew to a close. "And you really trust that demon?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I get the impression that he would be pretty good at lying and imitating emotions if he wanted to be, but I really want believe that he was being sincere. All I can promise is that I will keep my word and keep visiting him. If he _was _lying-" Naruto shook his head, "it might get nasty."

Sasuke gave a low whistle. "Some days, it's hard for me to convince myself that your life isn't worse than mine."

"It _is_ worse than yours!" Naruto said indignantly. Sasuke got up from where he had been sitting in the grass and offered Naruto a hand to pull himself up.

"Whatever, dobe."

* * *

A/N: Hi! Happy New Year to all those who follow the Roman Calendar. Several things to address, and please do not skip this author's note. It is very important to me.

1) when Naruto turned the Kyuubi into a small child, the memories stayed where they were: inside of an orb of youki quite some distance from the floor.

2) In his outside (physical) form, Naruto's hands were complete intact and unburned.

3) Worship his Mightiness the Log!

3) (This is the part that I am particularly keen that you should read) Please review. Really and truly. It will take you less time to review than it will take you to read my little rant on reviews. I honestly do not know what the hell goes through your mind when you read this story, as I am not that good a psychic. If you think I'm doing something right, review. Otherwise, I will assume my writing sucks, sink into a depression and not be able to work up the motivation to update for a long, long time. But you can help! just put your hand on the mouse, move the cursor until it it over the little blue hyperlink labeled 'Review This Chapter,' press down on the left button of your mouse, and type in a brief comment. It will take a total of twenty seconds. It is amazingly easy. I know your time is precious, so I implore you to spend what will amount to less than a minute of it making someone who you will never meet happy. Thank you. Now don't you dare _not_ review. The guilt will haunt you. And when you die, so will I. And Oscar. Oh yes. He will.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter XVII

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

"Sai! Listen to me! No, don't smile at me, just listen. You cannot be here while I train those genin." Jaitan said distractedly. He pulled off one of his bandanas to push a hand through his hair. It was early morning and the two- or rather three- of them were standing in the large training field, waiting for Jaitan's students to turn up for a day's training.

Sai continued smiling. "Why can't I stay? I want to watch."

"Normally, I would try to say this gently, but since it's you, it really doesn't matter how I say it. If you stay here and watch us, you're going to say something or do something really insensitive and everyone will end up hating you. You may even get into a fight, if I'm particularly unlucky."

"Why should I care?"

"You probably do not and will not care regardless of what I say, but I will care and my students will care. They'll wonder why I even talk to you."

"And why do you talk to me?" Sai asked, his faux smile more disconcerting than ever.

"I talk to you because I don't understand how you can have no emotions at all and because you don't understand how I can live with myself in this condition." He indicated his other body, who was twisting his bandana in agitation. "Neither of us understands the other and it makes a nice change being around someone who doesn't even try to understand me and with whom I can be brutally honest."

Sai gave small laugh that was creepier and less sincere than his smile. "I could kill you if you don't let me stay."

"Yes, I daresay you could. I just have to take that risk because I can't let you stay. Someone will get hurt and you know it. Even if you can't feel the anger yourself, you know that others become angry when you say the wrong things and, the kind of people that my students are, they will fight you and they will get hurt. I want to train them so that this kind of thing won't happen. Please don't force me to fight you. Please just leave. I'll come around afterward if you want."

"I'll never understand you, Jaitan. Why should you care if others get hurt? Their pain is not yours."

"I am not sure that I am capable of explaining it to you. I was brought up differently than you were and I believe in different morals and bonds. Please leave us to train, and I promise to come by afterward to talk; or not, if you prefer. I am capable of sitting silently or fighting or anything if you just do me this favor."

Sai seemed to see an opportunity. "So you'll owe my a favor? Be in my debt?"

"Yes, within reason."

Sai was silent for a moment, thinking, the eerie smile never leaving his pale face. "Very well. We will fight after you finish your little lessons." Without so much as a farewell, the pale boy left.

Jaitan watched him go with relief. Slowly, he retied his bandana, checked it by looking at it through his other set of eyes to be sure the forehead plate in front was straight and then set off to find Anko.

* * *

By the time an uncomfortably hung-over Anko had been coerced into accompanying Jaitan back to the training ground, a feat which required many promises and a little bit of light blackmail, they were both running late and were unsurprised to see their students already present and waiting for them. At least, Jaitan assumed that everyone was there, until he performed a quick headcount, proving the crowd of students to be one short. _Who is missing? Ah yes. Who else? Short dark hair, pale eyes, anxious, eager-to-please air. But Hinata is never late. What's going on?_

Jaitan was about to inquire about the girl's whereabouts, when the Hyuuga heiress herself came slinking in through the trees, head down in a clear don't-notice-me-or-comment sign. Jaitan had the decency to comply, carefully avoiding looking at her.

* * *

Hinata knew she was going to be late for training, but she just couldn't bring herself to pick up the pace. She kept her head down, knowing that if she caught the eye of any of the early-morning villagers around her, they would see her agitation and seething anger. Her eyes narrowed and her fury peaked as she recalled the cool, precise words that her father had spoken to her only that morning.

_(Flashback)_

Hinata woke cheerfully enough, knowing that it would be another day for training and another day in which to see Naruto-kun. She still found her unlikely friendship with the blonde, so long coveted, hard to believe at times. Hinata was getting dressed when there was a gentle rap at her bedroom door. She frowned. Most days, her family left her alone and didn't so much as greet her unless she was attending a formal dinner with them. Leaving her heavy coat on the bed, she opened the door to reveal her cousin, Neji.

She briefly wondered why he was there. He barely ever spoke to her and since his father had died, he had never, to her knowledge, sought her out. Neji did not give her long to ponder his unusual behavior, however, as he spoke almost as soon as the door was opened.

"I was told to give you this," he said, and thrust a small scroll into her hands. _Not so much as a 'Good morning,'_ Hinata thought sadly. _Does he really hate me that much? I suppose he considers it an insult to be treated like a servant and be asked to deliver something. _Hinata took the scroll and Neji wheeled away, striding down the corridor without another word. Hinata watching his retreating back and noticed that he was making no effort to hide his anger from her via his hunched shoulders and fast walk. _I suppose it _is_ sort of an insult to treat him like that. How could he help being born into the Branch House? _Hinata retreated to her bedroom again and quietly closed the door. _But, then again, I couldn't help being born as heiress. I almost wish I weren't, if the alternative to being Main House weren't so bad. What an awful family, where less than half has the rest enslaved!_

Hinata realized that she was still standing behind the door, holding the scroll and staring at the dark wood in a kind of daze of unhappiness. She shook her head. This wouldn't do. She sat down on her bed to unroll the scroll. The first thing she noticed was her father's signature at the bottom of the missive. Indignation licked her insides. Imagine! The nerve of her father: treating his own nephew as a servant to deliver scrolls for him. No wonder Neji had seemed so uptight. Though, that did seem to be his perpetual state when he was inside of the compound. She consulted the scroll. As far as she could gather from her father's unnecessarily wordy message, he wanted to 'consult with her on a matter of immediate importance.' He had listed a time at which expected her in his study. Hinata checked the clock on her bedside table and realized that she was already to be late by several minutes. She dropped the scroll and leapt up and was already halfway down the corridor before she remembered that her coat was still on her bed. She gritted her teeth and kept running. She would have to face her father without a coat to hide in.

She arrived at the door to her father's study, knocked, was told to enter, and did so. Hiashi's first reaction upon seeing his elder daughter was to frown and check his watch exaggeratedly. His next was to instruct her to close the door and his mood was not much improved by the sight of her obeying. When Hinata was seated in a low chair before his desk, he spoke. "Hinata-chan, I am aware that you are presently undertaking a new training program under an instructor by the name of Jaitan-san."

Hinata did not respond. All of her resentment of her father on her own and Neji's behalf seemed to be manifesting itself in a form of rudeness. How dare he imply through his actions that her lateness was her fault when he had sent the message only minutes before she was supposed to meet him.

"Hinata, respond when I am speaking to you."

"My apologies, father. I was merely waiting for you to ask a question," Hinata replied, unconsciously adopting the cold, lofty tones that she had always been instructed to use when handling official matters. "Yes, what you say is true."

"And am I to understand that this Jaitan-san has temporarily dissolved your class' genin team assignments in favor of a form of training in which all genin are taught at once in one group?"

"Yes."

Hiashi waited for a heartbeat to see if she would add anything to this statement. "Would you care to expand on that?"

"No." Hinata winced internally. She knew that it would be wise to stop her blatant rudeness, but at the same time, she discovered her complete inability to care about how much she offended her father.

Hiashi leaned forward ever so slightly over his desk. His pale gaze bored into his daughter's but to his surprise, she did not look away. "This method of teaching seems to me to be rather inefficient. I wish to inform you that I shall be lodging a request with the Hokage that he separate you back into teams for training purposes."

"Father, I believe that that would be a grave error," Hinata said quickly. "I have learned more from Jaitan-sensei than I had expected to learn in the same period of time from training with only three people. The fact that I have frequent contact with more than one sensei, as Jaitan usually has someone to assist him, be it Kurenai-sensei or Asuma-sensei," Hinata thought it wise at this point to conveniently forget to mention Anko-sensei, "only makes the learning experience more beneficial. In addition, I get frequent contact with other genin whom I may very well be fighting alongside in a few years. Do you not agree that this is a positive factor?"

"While I do agree that an increase in your fighting skill, no matter how insignificant, is an immense improvement, I still have some concerns about your frequent contact with certain other children."

Hinata stared at her father. For one thing, he made it sound as if her level of skill was beyond the hope of salvaging. For another, did he genuinely want her to remain as friendless as she had been in the academy? Lastly, she knew exactly about whom he was speaking when he spoke of 'contact with certain other children.' "Are you referring to Naruto Uzumaki, father?" she asked sweetly.

Hiashi was surprised that his elder daughter should grasp the point so quickly but did not let it show by so much as a blink. "Yes, Hinata. Your association as of late with the Uzumaki child has grown more and more worrying."

Hinata sat very still and moved her lips as little as possible when she next spoke. "What point do you wish to make, father?"

"Sever your connections with him. He will only lead you down a path of self-destruction and continuing contact with him will cause your public reputation irreversible harm."

"Father, I wish it were not so, but I feel more ashamed by my relationship to this clan than my association with Naruto-kun. Naruto is my friend. He is reliable and easy to talk to and he encourages me and inspires me. This clan has nothing to offer me. No one is willing to train me, though as clan heiress I ought to have full access." Hinata felt low, playing the I-am-not-getting-the-respect-my-status-deserves card, but it was one her few arguments that she was sure that her father would understand. "Furthermore, related to this matter, but less so, is the topic of the Main and Branch House members of this clan. How can we truly be the strongest clan in Konoha the way our family's hierarchy is arranged? The Branch House members despise and fear the Main House members. Given half a chance, they would willingly betray us." Hinata stopped, biting her lip. If she was not careful here, she would cause unnecessary suffering, but she was in too deep to back out now. "And it would be all the fault of the Main House members," she continued. "Both parts of the family are so paranoid and vindictive that it's a wonder that anyone in Konoha still thinks us most powerful." Hinata paused to draw breath, but her father interrupted her.

"I do not blame you for the words you are saying. It is clearly the Uzumaki boy's influence that has caused you to say such things. You are not capable of such thoughts. You have been raised inside of our clan and it is all you have ever known."

Hinata stared for a moment, incensed. When she spoke, she could not keep a slight quiver of anger from her voice. "You call the treatment I have received at your hands 'raising' me? You think I cannot be capable of those kinds of thoughts? How would you know? You didn't even get around to confronting me about Naruto-kun until now and we've been friends for months. You know nothing of my life."

"That may be true, but you are a child- incapable of understanding that all I have done for you in your life has been for your own good."

"I've always wondered how you justified in your mind the neglect and abuse that you treated me with," Hinata said. She was so furious that she could not shift her eyes from her father's face and there were tiny flashes and blurs of light around the edges of her vision.

"Hinata, stop speaking. If you do not, I will be forced to the conclusion that your mind has not been corrupted solely by the Uzumaki boy's influence."

_Damn straight it hasn't!_ Hinata screamed inside her head. _I have thoughts that are worse than you can imagine! And I want credit for them!_ "Father, unless you have anything more to say to me, I believe this meeting is over," Hinata said abruptly. "I have nothing more to say to you and if you say another word, I would be forced to end this meeting on a much nastier note."

"You do not yet have my permission to leave. I have one more thing to say and you will hear me out. Once and for all, I want you to swear that you will renounce your friendship with the Uzumaki boy. Will you or will you not return to the fold?"

"One, I am not friends with anyone known as 'The Uzumaki boy.' I am friends with Naruto-kun. And two, no I will not abandon him."

"Hinata, I do not wish to tell you this, but you have forced my hand. For your own safety, I must inform you that the Uzumaki boy is extremely dangerous. He is, in fact-"

"The demon container for the Kyuubi no Yoko? I was wondering when you would bring it up. I know exactly what Naruto-kun is and why you hate him. However, he is not dangerous, as far as I can tell. In fact, from what I have suffered at your hands, you have caused me to fear you more than I have ever been afraid of him. He could not help being made a Jinchuriki, just as I could not help being born into this Log-forsaken clan. I will never abandon him, no matter what." Hinata stood to leave. She forced herself to bow politely, no matter how much of her was aching to blow her father a mocking kiss. "Good morning to you," she said freezingly, and left, knowing that she looked just as tense and angry from behind as Neji had looked.

She was so angry that it had taken her a while to muster the urge to go outside at all, let alone walk through the streets of the village. Consequently, she was the last one to arrive in the training grounds. She noticed Naruto trying to catch her eye. She was not yet ready to talk about her conversation with Hiashi, but she shot him a talk-to-you-later look as she listened to Jaitan explain the day's training.

* * *

Jaitan held up what looked like a limp white strip of cloth with the hands of one body while the other spoke, "Do any of you know what this is?"

"Yes," Sasuke and Sakura said simultaneously. Sakura fell respectfully silent as Sasuke continued, "It's one part of a set of training weights."

"Very _good_, Sasuke." Oscar said patronizingly, but in a quiet enough voice that Jaitan couldn't hear. Kiba and Naruto smirked and Ino and Sakura glared. At the same time, Jaitan continued with his lecture uninterrupted.

"That is correct. There are, in fact, four parts, all similar to this one, in a full set of training weights. Today, you will each be receiving a set and it is my wish that you keep them on at all times, even outside of training, unless you are on a mission and your sensei gives you the okay to remove them. These weights are set at seven pounds each, but as you grow accustomed to them, I will be able to raise the settings."

Naruto heard Shikamaru give an audible sigh and mutter, "Troublesome," but the Nara meekly received his set of weights along with everyone else. While the genin were clumsily fastening the weights to their wrists and ankles, Ino raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"What are we doing today?" Ino asked, eying the gleeful expression on Anko's face. The purple-haired woman had been silent thus far and had been looking distinctly hung-over and disheveled. When Ino had asked her question, however, Anko had looked up expectantly.

"Can I explain, Jaitan?" The purple-haired woman asked hopefully.

"Yes, you may."

Anko gave a cackle that caused most of the genin to give involuntary shivers and for cold sweat to ice their fingers, making it harder for the few who had not yet finished fastening on their training weights to do so. Anko pulled a pair of handcuffs from behind her back and said, "Alright, listen up, brats! I didn't want you getting bored of training; so today we'll be doing something a little different. I am going to assign each of you a partner- and no, you may not pick your own." Sakura, who had just opened her mouth, shut it hastily. "I will be handcuffing you to your partner and giving each of you a role to fulfill. One of you will have to be the captor and the other will be the prisoner. Think of it like a role-playing game. You will have to make it through the outer three miles of the Forest of Death before sunset and meet me at the clearing that I have already marked out. The twist is that the prisoner must try to hinder the captor as much as possible and prevent the pair of you from reaching the meeting place. The captor must try and make it to the meeting place before sunset. Those who complete the task, ie: those captors who make it to the meeting place before sunset and those prisoners who prevent their captors from reaching the meeting place before sunset will be taught a new jutsu."

"What new jutsu?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"That would be telling, wouldn't it? Are there any questions?"

"Yes. What happens if we are unable to find the meeting place at all? What if we are lost in the Forest of Death?" Shino asked quietly

"You'd just better not get lost, that's all I can say. Anything to add, Jaitan?"

"No, you've got it pretty much covered. Want help handcuffing them?"

"I'd be delighted," Anko said, and handed Jaitan two pairs of cuffs. Then she advanced on Kiba and shackled him to Ino, much to the audible consternation of both of them. Meanwhile, Jaitan cuffed Sakura to Shino with one pair of hands and Choji to Sasuke with the other. Anko approached Naruto, Hinata, Oscar, and Shikamaru with the other two sets of handcuffs and gazed at them shrewdly, considering. "Oscar," She said slowly, "I'll put you with-" she stopped, seeing Shikamaru shake his head and make his eyes wide and pleading. "Shika." She cuffed them together and handed the last pair of cuffs to Hinata and jerked a thumb at Naruto. "You know what to do, girlie." Hinata could have sworn that Anko tipped her a wink. Numbly, she shackled herself to Naruto, avoiding his gaze and returning his smile only half-heartedly. Though everything she had told her father about Naruto's friendship was true, having the conversation fresh in her mind gave her a stab of mixed embarrassment and rage whenever she met Naruto's eyes.

"Alright," Anko said, glancing around to make sure that everyone had a partner. "You, you, you, you and you will be the captors. You're responsible for getting yourself and your partner through the first three miles of the forest of death." She pointed to Choji, Ino, Hinata, Shino, and Shikamaru. "The rest of you," she indicated Sasuke, Naruto, Oscar, Kiba and Sakura, "Will try to slow up your partner as much as possible. Picking the lock is not allowed, even if you know how, and neither is kawirimi'ing out. I have the only key. I'll be waiting. Good luck! Break a leg!" With that, both the purple-haired woman and the two Jaitans shunshin'd away.

The ten genin stood uncertainly for a moment. Finally, Choji asked, "Which way is the forest of death from here?" Shino pointed vaguely in a direction which may have been Northwest, momentarily forgetting his shackles and dragging Sakura's arm with him. She hissed and punched him in the arm.

"Watch it! That hurts!" Shino gave Sakura an annoyed look and set off running the way he had pointed, dragging her after him and making her have to scrabble for balance. Getting the idea, the other captors took off running, pulling their partners behind them and not giving the prisoners enough time to devise any delaying tactics. In no time, only Oscar, Shikamaru, Hinata and Naruto were left. Oscar was trying to run the other way while Shikamaru was just letting himself be dragged. Hinata frowned.

"Shika! Don't let him pull you! The only way you can get the cuffs off is if you reach the meeting place before sunset!"

Shikamaru looked at her gloomily over his shoulder. "I don't even think it's worth the trouble." As he spoke, Oscar began running in circles around Shika and spinning him around. On one of his laps, he spotted the pond at the other end of the field and a truly evil look came into his eye. He raced off towards it, but Naruto didn't get to see what happened next because he felt a sharp yank on his wrist and almost fell over. He regained his balance and had to run hard to keep pace with Hinata. She led him out of the field and up on a zigzag path across the rooftops of buildings in the village. They were passing the Hokage tower before he remembered that he was supposed to be preventing their progression. He began to run more slowly until he eventually slowed to a walk that had Hinata straining at the cuffs. The next time she tried to jump to another rooftop, he made himself go limp and heavy so that they dropped down to the ground in an alleyway. He stood still as Hinata dragged at him without making any headway. He suddenly got the impression that she was crying though he could not see her face. He touched her straining arm with his free one. "Hinata?"

She whipped around. Her face was flushed and she had an I-will-bite-you-if-you-don't-back-off look. "What?"

"A-are you alright?" Naruto faltered. He had a nagging suspicion that he had done or said something, or perhaps failed to do or say something to her that had triggered this response.

"What? Yes. I'm fine. Let's go." Hinata turned away from him again.

"Hinata, what did I do? You're upset; how can I help?"

Those last four words got to her. She let out a long shuddering breath and let her shoulders relax but managed to hold back the tears. "I had a bad morning. My father just…" She trailed off, still not prepared to speak with him about it.

"It was about me, wasn't it?" Naruto asked softly. Hinata glanced up in surprise at his acute perception and nodded slowly. "I thought so," Naruto said, grimly. "I'll talk to him if you want."

Hinata shook her head emphatically. "Trust me, I know my father and that would make it infinitely worse. In any case, this is between him and me and there was ever a time for me to show him that he can't push me around, it's now. I need to show him that I can be strong without someone to lean on." _Which is not to say that I don't want Naruto-kun's support._ Hinata thought.

Naruto inclined his head in submission. When he compared this Hinata to the weird dark girl who used to stare at him from the back of the class in the academy, all he could feel was pride at how far she had come. However, they were in the middle of a training exercise and if he truly wanted to make her feel as though he respected her prowess as a ninja, he wouldn't be able to go as easy on her as he had planned. Following that train of thought, he quickly scooped her up one-handed so that she was clinging to his shoulders with her legs straddling his waist. Her right arm, the wrist of his was still shackled to his wrist, was draped over his right shoulder.

Hinata stiffened in surprise but quickly made herself relax as Naruto began running back the way they came. She leaned her head against the base of Naruto's neck and closed her eyes, momentarily forgetting all about the training exercise. When she did remember, her eyes flew open and she laughed incredulously. "Put me down! No fair taking advantage of me when I least expect it!"

When this made not the slightest difference to the blonde except perhaps that he picked up the pace a little, she struggled and pulled at the handcuffs. She heard his laughter floating back to her over the sound of rushing air. She felt equal parts exhilarated and annoyed. She wasn't going to lose this exercise to anyone! She unwrapped her legs from around Naruto's waist and dropped to the ground, pulling viciously on the chain and starting to run before Naruto could regain his balance. When she felt him move to start pulling her back the other way, she started channeling chakra to her legs and right arm and ran faster. She could feel him trying to slow her down by slowing his own pace, but she simply grabbed his left forearm in her right hand and ran as hard as ever.

Whenever she felt him try to turn, she tightened her grip and gave his arm a jerk or a twist to throw him off balance. She varied her speed, too, but despite this, it wasn't long before they arrived at the edge of the forest of death. Hinata had taken no more than five steps beyond the fence at the boundary when she was brought up short. Naruto had thoroughly enmeshed his fingers in the wires of the fence and was using chakra both to strengthen his fingers and arms and to stick his hands to the wires. Hinata, thoroughly exasperated, stopped altogether and just sat down on the ground. "So," she said, "aren't you going to try and convince me to turn back, or will this just be a battle of physical strength?"

"Strength, if you don't mind," Naruto said cheerfully, fingers still entwined in the wires of the fence. "I'm not very good at persuading people."

"We still have three miles to go. If you give up now, it will take that much less time to get out of these cuffs."

"Do you really want to get the cuffs off?" Naruto asked slyly.

"Do you?" Hinata shot back.

"No. I want to learn the new jutsu," Naruto replied.

"Well tough because I want to learn it too and we are going to be in that clearing before sunset. Clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Don't call me ma'am."

"Yes, sir." Naruto grinned cheekily and did not release his grip on the fence.

Hinata growled in frustration. "Alright! That's it!" She leapt up and seized Naruto but the wrists and twisted them, using chakra to enhance her strength. Naruto yelped and let go; it was either that or have his arms broken. Once his hands were freed from the fence, he grabbed Hinata around the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder to carry her back the way they had come.

However, Hinata was ready for a fight. She planted her feet on his thighs and pushed off, pushing herself over Naruto's shoulder headfirst and using the chain to pull him to the ground. She landed on her knees but was on her feet before Naruto could begin to get up. She stepped over to his body, swung one leg over his supine form and sat down on his chest. Naruto made a feeble effort to push her off or roll over, but Hinata leaned forward and pinned his hands above his head, holding them at the wrists. With the other hand, she pulled a kunai from one of the pouches strapped to Naruto's leg and held it at the blonde boy's throat, just beneath the ear.

Naruto froze, starring up at Hinata, who looked flushed and triumphant. Her coat had come unzipped a few inches in the struggle and the sight of the exposed curves of her pale breasts beneath the mesh shirt, just inches from his face, as she had had to lean forward in order to pin his arms, had his attention more acutely than did the kunai that she was using to menace his throat.

Hinata looked carefully at Naruto's face and at the blood dripping steadily from his nose. She looked down at her partially unzipped coat and connected it to the expression on the blonde boy's face. A good half of her wanted to release him immediately in order to refasten her coat and then curl up and die from embarrassment. A tiny part of her, a part she was most ashamed of, wished she had the courage to unzip her coat all the way and see the look on Naruto-kun's face. She did neither of these things, however, instead opting to take advantage of a good situation. She pasted a sly smile across her face and spoke through her mortification. "Do you like what you see, Naruto-kun?"

"Mm-hm," Naruto murmured, a glazed look in his eyes.

"Good." Hinata took her chained hand away from Naruto's wrists and transferred the kunai to that hand, keeping it steady at Naruto's throat. She zipped her coat up one-handed and said, "If you ever want to see that again, I suggest you cooperate with me." She scooted back so that she was straddling the base of his stomach, right above where she could tell he was getting uncomfortably hard. Then, she leaned forward so that she was laying full length along his chest, her knees on either side of his legs, only holding herself apart from him with her left hand planted flat on the ground. Her lips brushed his ear as she whispered, "If you don't cooperate with me, I may just have to hurt you. But don't worry, I hear you're a fast healer and a quick study." Hinata sat up quickly, eliciting a gasp of mixed pain and longing from Naruto. Drawing the kunai back from his throat, she tossed it casually from hand to hand; heedless of the way that Naruto's hand was being dangled helplessly from the end of the chain. "So, what'll it be?" she drawled. She almost spoiled the performance by laughing at the expression on Naruto's face.

* * *

"Can I stop now?" Naruto panted.

"No you may not."

"You are a cold, hard woman," Naruto said, stumbling as he landed on another branch and tensing his legs for another jump. "I'm not trying to prevent you anymore. You could just get down and walk."

"But where would be the fun in that?" Hinata asked, wrapping her legs a little tighter around his abdomen. "Anyway, on the way here, you've tried to prevent me three times."

"Those shadow clones didn't stand a chance," Naruto said mournfully.

"You really have to think of a way to make them more durable."

"I know." Naruto dropped to the ground just outside a large clearing in the trees. It was most certainly the meeting place Anko had spoken of. He was hoping Hinata hadn't noticed it. He himself had only seen it because they had been so high up in the canopy.

But apparently Hinata had noticed the clearing. That, or she had noticed him slow down. "Oh no you don't," she said and pulled a piece of ninja wire from a pouch. She threaded a loose coil around Naruto's throat and wrapped the ends around her hands like reins.

Naruto groaned and hoisted Hinata a little higher on his back while she slackened the wire a little. Then he carried her through the border of the clearing and stopped just inside the ring of trees in time to dodge to the right of an incoming kunai.

"What the hell?" he roared at Anko, who was leaning against a tree and idly tossing and catching another kunai, its blade flipping end over end and forming a mesmerizing silver fan in the air each time she released the grip.

"You deserve it for letting her bully you into carrying her. You didn't even try, did you brat?" Anko scolded, not bothering to conceal her grin.

"I tried! You have no idea how hard I tried!" Naruto cried out in indignation.

"Is that true, Hinata?" Jaitan asked, coming up to stand beside Anko.

"Nope," Hinata said. "Do I get to learn the new jutsu yet?"

"Tomorrow," Jaitan said soothingly.

At that moment, there was a loud crash as Oscar and Shikamaru burst into the clearing. Shikamaru was much the worse for wear; wet and looking as though he had been dragged through several thorn patches, he was still be pulled around by Oscar. The darker boy looked around and, when he spotted Anko, let out a whoop. "Yes! We made it!"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked as Hinata slid down from his back and unwound the wire from his throat. "You were supposed to stop Shika from getting here."

The look of jubilation on the dark boy's face faded slowly to one of confusion. "Wha-at?" he said. Then something seemed to snap into place behind his eyes. He rounded on Shikamaru. "You lied to me!"

"I'm a ninja. It's what I do," Shikamaru said in a bored voice. When he spotted the expression on Oscar's face, however, his nerve seemed to break. "Give me the key!" he yelled at Anko, trying desperately to back away from Oscar; not an easy feat considering they were still cuffed together.

Naruto left them to fight it out and pulled Hinata over to Anko. "Can I have the key?" he asked.

"I don't know, can you?" Anko asked, watching the fight with interest.

Naruto sighed. "_May_ I have the key?"

"You may." Anko put her hand in the pocket of her coat and drew out a small metal key, which she dangled in front of Naruto's face. Before he could take it, however, Hinata snatched it away and held it tauntingly just out of his reach.

"Give it here, Hinata," Naruto said laughingly.

"No. Come and get it." Hinata quickly tucked it down the front of her shirt. Naruto slowly and reluctantly let his hand fall to his side.

"I'm almost tempted to reach over there and get it, if I didn't value my life so much," Naruto said.

"You're only 'almost tempted?' I must not have done a very good job earlier," Hinata pouted. She slowly drew out the key and unlocked first Naruto's cuff and then her own.

"Thank you," the blonde boy said devoutly. "Now, why don't we go rescue Shikamaru?"

* * *

Sarutobi surveyed the special jonin before him. Really, he would never get used to having a conversation with one person who occupied two chairs. Jaitan scowled at him, slumped forward in the colorless, uncomfortable chairs before the Hokage's desk. "I assure you, Sandiame-sama, that the studies of the rookie genin are progressing with the utmost rapidity. You assured me that I would have free reign regarding their training."

"Actually, I told you that you could have a trial period and we see how it went from there," Sarutobi said pleasantly.

Jaitan stiffened and all of his eyes narrowed. "Are you suspending my responsibilities?"

"Not at all, Jaitan. I was merely suggesting a compromise. Recently a person came to me and voiced the concern that your students are not spending enough time exclusively with the teams they were assigned to."

"And you agree?"

"In some ways, he does have a point," Sarutobi leaned forward over the desk. "But apart from that, the person of whom I speak is a very distinguished member of society in Konoha. To ignore him would be to cause political unrest."

"Politics," Jaitan spat. "We are speaking of the education of ninjas. Of _killers._ Politics should not interfere with their learning."

"As I said, I disagree that the genin need spend time training only with their teams. Perhaps if they were to have team training once or twice a week… You know that at least one third of the chunin exams will include teamwork, don't you?"

"I am aware."

"Good. Then let us have no more arguments. To start out with, let's say that teams will meet to train on Saturdays and on Wednesday afternoons starting tomorrow. How does that suit you?"

"Perfectly, Hokage-sama," Jaitan said hotly and sarcastically. He got up to leave and was almost at the door when Sarutobi caught hold of one of his arms. The body he was touching didn't even look around but the one closest to the door did, half-turning so that Sarutobi was looking into his gray eyes over one shoulder. "Yes?"

"It's not all about politics," Sarutobi said softly. "That's all I want you to know."

Jaitan's hard gaze seemed to soften just a fraction. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

* * *

A/N: Oh yes. I did just do that. If I were you, dear reader, I wouldn't exactly get my hopes up for a lemon all the same. I mean, I wouldn't be ready to trample my hopes into the dirt, though, if you catch my drift. But don't get your hopes up. However, if I were one of you, I would LEAVE A TWICE-LOG-DAMNED REVIEW! Ungrateful beasts

On to other matters... no. You are not permitted to read beyond this point without first leaving a review. Now don't you _dare. _

STUFF ABOUT THIS CHAPTER:

-Jaitan hangs out with Sai sometimes. They mostly fight. Jaitan thinks it is good practice and what Sai thinks, the world may never know.  
-Hinata stood up to Hiashi but then he went to the Hokage anyway. Bastard.  
-Hinata seduced Naruto. And he enjoyed every moment of it... (as did she. kind of. in a roundabout underneath kind of way.)  
-yeah. now the teams will train together twice a week. yay and all that.

This lack of reviews is seriously depressing. Love You! Bye!


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter XVIII

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: Note-no one dies. Please don't freak out. Thank you!

* * *

Naruto looked around at he three training posts and the trees that seemed to press in on the small clearing, leaning in conspiratorially. The last time he had been here in training ground seven, Sasuke had been with him and Naruto had gone into his mindscape and forced the Kyuubi into a pseudo-human shape. He still squirmed with shame on remembering the gung-ho attitude with which he had handled his tenant.

This time, however, not only was Sasuke here, but so was the rest of team seven, minus their sensei, of course. None of them had expected anything else from Kakashi. Sasuke, who was sitting leaning against one of he training posts, spotted Naruto hovering by the trees and gestured him to get a move on. Naruto smiled inwardly; there had been a time when Sasuke would have just pretended not to see Naruto. Sakura, in contrast, scowled and jerked her chin at Naruto in some odd facsimile of a nod. Naruto wandered over to them and sat down.

"Where's Oscar-kun?" Was Sakura's first question.

"Hello Sakura, good morning to you, too. To answer your question, to my knowledge, Oscar-kun is still in bed."

"Why didn't you wake him up?" Sasuke asked.

"Hey, if you want to try and wake that child up first thing in the morning, be my guest, duck-butt. Then you can come back and show me your scars. I, on the other hand, have grown rather accustomed to having ten fingers and-"

"Okay, fine, I get the picture, dobe."

"Good." Naruto stretched lazily and laid down on his front, elbows propping up his head and his feet waving in the air. "So, how are you two on this fine sunny morning?"

"Fine," they both replied.

"What do you think Kakashi-sensei will teach us?" Sakura asked.

"Haven't the foggiest," Naruto said casually.

"Of course, you're both assuming that he'll bother to show up today," Sasuke pointed out.

"He can't not turn up completely," Sakura reasoned.

"No, but he can be three hours late, which is almost as bad," Naruto said, "Unless he decides to show up early today. Or rather, not as late as usual."

"You don't think he will, though, or you would have shown up on time instead of an hour and a half late," Sakura pointed out. Naruto rolled onto his back and stared at her through upside-down wide blue eyes.

"Is that why you're pissed? Because you got out of bed at six this morning and I slept until eight?"

Sasuke smirked, "That's not the only reason. She's pissed because she was sitting here for an hour with no one to talk to and nothing to do. I only got here a little while ago," He explained.

Naruto laughed, but quickly stopped and sat up when he heard a rustling among the trees. A bleary-eyed Oscar pushed his way through the braches, rubbing at his eyes with one fist. He dropped down in the grass next to Naruto and hugged his knees to his chest, chin resting on top. He blinked slowly at Sasuke and Sakura, both of whom were looking at him in respectful silence. "Oh good," he said blurrily, "Everyone's here but the teacher."

"Good morning, sunshine," Naruto said, and aimed a slap at the back of the darker boy's head. Oscar growled warningly.

"Um, Oscar, your shirt is inside out," Sakura said, giggling a little.

"What?" Oscar twisted around trying to see the tag of his shirt before it occurred to him to check the seams, which were, in fact, on the outside. "Oh, hell," he growled. He stood up and took hold of the hem of his shirt to pull it off.

"Wait!" Sakura said. All three boys turned to stare at her incredulously. She blushed but went on defiantly, "You can't just do that here!"

"Sure I can. Anyway, it's not like you haven't seen a boy shirtless," Oscar said, glancing over at Sasuke, who paled and stiffened, casting Sakura a frightened look. "Grow up a little. If it bothers you so much, don't watch."

Sakura scowled and crossed her arms but looked away, defeated. Oscar rolled his eyes and turned his shirt right side out before sitting down again.

"So, how much longer have we got to wait?" Oscar asked, his voice and manner almost up to human standards by that time.

"Well, if sensei stays true to form, he should be here in a little over an hour," Sasuke replied.

"I bet all of the other groups are training by now," Sakura muttered crossly.

"Yeah, I wonder what they're doing," Naruto said. "For that matter, I still want to know what the reward for that training exercise is."

"You mean the one where we got handcuffed? I guess we'll find out on Monday," Sakura said. "But why do you care? I thought you ended up carrying your partner the wrong way."

"I did," Naruto confessed. Oscar snorted quietly. "Hey, at least I knew that I was going the wrong way! And it's not like she didn't put up a fight," Naruto said defensively. Oscar glowered.

"Shut up. That was not my fault."

"Was so."

The conversation continued in this vein for some time until it finally wore itself out and the four genin gradually fell into a sleepy silence. That is the way Kakashi found them, slumped in the grass and almost asleep. He shook his head. "Alright team, time to get up."

Naruto sat up with a start and grabbed Oscar's wrist to check his watch. As the other three genin roused themselves around him, Naruto looked at Kakashi accusatorily. "You probably think this is really funny. This doesn't count as being early!" the blonde boy said.

"Why," Sasuke asked, standing up, yawning, and brushing grass off of himself, "How late was he?"

"Two hours and fifty-five minutes exactly," Naruto said, still giving Kakashi an annoyed look. The gray-haired man eye-smiled.

"Actually, I do find it kind of funny," Kakashi admitted.

"Why are you so late?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi wave an airy hand. "Oh, I got lost on the road of life."

"Did you turn right at the Mountains of Indecision?" Oscar asked, finally sitting up and taking an interest in the conversation.

Kakashi was slightly startled and bemused. "Well-"

But Oscar talked over him. "Because I'm always turning right when I should have turned left. Or did you end up in the Shadowland of Portents and Significant Events? Did you meet a Long Forgotten Friend?"

"No," Kakashi said flatly, "As welcome as that would have been."

"Oh. Well, I can't say I ever have either. Did you get stuck in the Bog of Habit, or maybe you were forced to swim through the Sea of Forgetfulness via the Path of Vices. Or perhaps you took one of the tunnels through the Valley of Hindsight and forgot to do the skipping trick for the Board of Important People In Your Life Who May Come Back to Haunt You. Is that what you meant when you said you got lost on the road of life? Or do you mean-"

Here Naruto cut him off, much as he would have liked to hear what come after the Board of Important People In Your Life Who May Come Back to Haunt You. "What will we be doing today, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Well, I have these little tests for you. They're not written tests, though," Kakashi said, pulling out a few slips of blank white paper, "So don't worry about that."

Oscar reached up and took one of the pieces of paper almost before Kakashi had finished speaking. Watched by his teammates and sensei, he tore off a tiny corner of the paper, examined it, and then placed it on his tongue. After a moment he frowned and spat the paper into his hand. "Either I don't have the gene that you need to taste this chemical, or this is just normal paper." Everyone just stared at him. "What?"

"That was an elemental affinity test," Kakashi said numbly. Naruto couldn't tell if Kakashi was trying not to laugh or was simply stunned. "I have never seen anyone put one in their mouth before."

"Well, no one ever accused me of being a conformist," Oscar said unconcernedly. "Will the test still work?"

"It should," Kakashi said, still staring at Oscar in disbelief. "Here, the rest of you take your papers." When each of the genin had a strip of paper, Kakashi said, "Good. Now, channel chakra into the papers. The way that the paper reacts will determine your elemental affinity."

"What do you mean, 'The way that the paper reacts?'" Naruto asked, but Sasuke, wasting no time, had already begun to channel his chakra.

There was a loud sound of paper crumpling and the piece of paper in Sasuke's hand crinkled up. Sasuke stared at it as if it was a vial of poison. He looked up at Kakashi with eyes that seemed dead and hollow. "That means I have a lightning affinity, right?" he asked hoarsely. Kakashi nodded. Sasuke's shoulders slumped. "Great," he spat.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke turned his blank eyes to her anxious green ones. "Itachi had a fire affinity," Sasuke said softly.

"So?" Oscar asked, "I though you wanted to be stronger than your brother. If you had a fire affinity, you would be constantly working to reach his level. Since you have a different affinity, your attacks will be powerful in a way that's different from his. And anyway, it's not like you can't use fire jutsu just because fire isn't your specialty."

"What you say is true," Sasuke said slowly. He seemed to mentally compose himself and pull himself together. "Very well, I will think about it later. What's your affinity, Oscar?"

The dark boy seemed to concentrate for a moment before his paper, too, crinkled up. He beamed and threw himself on Sasuke, yelling, "Looks like we're lightning buddies!"

Sakura, not wanting to be outdone, channeled some of her chakra into her own paper. To her disappointment, it did not crumple up, instead turning to dirt and crumbling away between her fingers. She brushed her hands together to dislodge the rest of the dirt. "Oh, goody, looks like I have an earth affinity," she said sourly.

Naruto realized that all of the others were looking at him expectantly. He quickly channeled some chakra into his piece of paper. To his confusion, a clean slice appeared in his paper and the half he had not been holding fluttered to the ground. He quickly picked it up and looked over at Kakashi. "Was that supposed to happen?" he asked.

"I assume so," Kakashi replied. "It seems as though you have a wind affinity."

"Is that good?" Naruto asked anxiously.

"Yeah, it's really cool," Oscar said, grinning.

"Why's that?" Naruto asked, confused as to why everyone was still smiling at him and a bit unnerved by then.

"Because it's the least common of the five basic elemental affinities seen in Konoha and is the most destructive type of elemental chakra," Sakura said at once, slipping unconsciously into know-it-all-teacher's-pet mode.

"Oh," Naruto said, "cool."

"You seem slightly disappointed," Kakashi said.

"Oh, I'm not. I _do_ think it's really cool, I just can't get all that worked up about it," Naruto said lazily.

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Naruto-kun?" Sasuke asked before realizing that Oscar was still hugging him and trying to prize the darker boy off. "(Get off!) Naruto wouldn't not get worked up over something that cool."

"Actually, now that you mention it…." Naruto said, as he slowly reached up with his hands. He balled them into fists just above his forehead protector and to the astonishment of his team, began to peel downward, pulling off the skin of his face like a rubber mask and revealing a radically different face beneath. This one was red and furry with glowing scarlet eyes and slit pupils. The teeth that filled the creature's mouth were long and white and razor sharp and two serrated fangs protruded crookedly from the upper jaw and hung an inch or so below the thing's thin bottom lip.

The beast took one hand away from the limp rubbery folds of skin that had once been a face and used that hand to drag back the mop of spiky blonde hair as if it were a hood. As it did so, two long rabbit-like ears sprang upright and seemed to twitch and swivel independently. The beast next held both hands up in front of its face and flexed the fingers until long steel-gray claws punched through the fingertips. Looking decidedly odd in a tee shirt and cargo pants, the beast hunched over, contorting its furry face into a look of painful concentration until four spindly dragonfly wings burst through the back of the tee shirt.

The whole transformation had lasted no more than a few seconds. Hunched over, the beast tipped back its face, drew back the corners of it mouth and narrowed its scarlet eyes to slits, its face drawn into a bizarre imitation of a smile. Then it laughed, or seemed to. The sound was hoarse and guttural, as though there was a blade stuck crosswise it its windpipe.

Team seven, which had until that point been standing frozen to the spot, was galvanized into action by the sound of the mutated thing laughing at the death of their teammate. Sakura screamed as she drew out a kunai, her actions mirrored by Sasuke and Oscar. Kakashi for some reason did nothing but pull down the hitai-ate that he had pushed up when the transformation began. Sasuke got to the beast first, kunai flashing out for a clean jab to the heart. The beast's head jerked back, eyes widening in panic as it caught hold of Sasuke's wrist just before the kunai touched its chest.

"Hey, take it easy, Sasuke-kun!" The beast said in a surprisingly familiar voice.

"How dare you use Naruto's voice?" Sasuke snarled, wrestling for control of his hand. "Let go!"

"Activate your sharingan, dumbass!" the thing snapped, tightening its grip on Sasuke's wrist.

Sasuke stopped struggling for the moment it took for his eyes to flood red. When the black tomoe had settled into place, he took a new look at the grinning beast. He slumped and his grip on the kunai relaxed slightly. "I still have a half a mind to stab you for that stunt, dobe," he growled.

The thing dropped Sasuke's arm and rolled its slitted eyes. "Don't be such a prima donna."

"Me? What about you?"

Oscar raised a tentative finger, cutting off the confusing flow of dialog. "Sakura and I still appear to be missing something. Care to fill us in? Didn't that thing just kill Naruto?"

In answer, there was a large puff of smoke and Naruto was left standing whole and unharmed exactly as he had been before the transformation, except that he was grinning all over his smug face. When he caught sight of the look on Sakura's face, halfway between confusion and anger, he burst into laughter. "Best- prank- ever!" he choked.

"Baka!" Sakura yelled. "Apart from scaring all of us half to death, we could have killed you before Sasuke realized what you did!"

"No, I bet I could've dodged if it came to that," Naruto said, still chuckling. "The hard part would have been fighting and maintaining the transformation at the same time, but I bet I could've pulled it off. Anyway, what did you expect?"

"That-" Kakashi cut in, "is an excellent question. Now, what were we saying before this vexed interruption?"

"We were asking Naruto why he wasn't more excited about having a wind affinity," Naruto said helpfully.

"Well, why aren't you?" Oscar asked.

"I _am _excited, I'm just not showing it as much as usual because, I don't know, I still kind of think it pales in comparison to the fact that I'm a _Jinchuriki_."

Sasuke nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, I can see the sense in that. I just wasn't expecting it from you of all people."

"Want to come over here and say that to my face, Uchiha-teme?" Naruto baited.

"I _am_ saying it to your face, dobe," Sasuke deadpanned.

"Oh." Naruto backed up a few steps to put some distance between himself and Sasuke. "Now do you want to come say it to my-"

"Yes, yes, we get it. You want us to know that though you refuse to become excited over having a wind affinity, you are still capable of lighthearted banter," Kakashi said dully, rolling his eye. "If we can return to the subject of your elemental affinities-?"

"Yes Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, returning to the group and curtseying, earning himself a slap upside the head from Sakura. "Ow!"

"You deserved it," She said curtly before giving her attention to her sensei.

"Now that you all are aware of your affinities, I have separate exercises for each of you. Oscar and Sasuke, you are lightning elementals so I want you to take a leaf each and hold it like this," Kakashi demonstrated, holding his hands with his palms together and a leaf sandwiched in between. "Lightning deals with piercing, so I want you to try and create small bolts of lightning between your palms. The lightning will have to travel through the leaf to reach the other hand, so if you do it right, you should be left with a leaf with many little perforations. Go ahead now and practice." Oscar and Sasuke moved off a little ways to collect leaves before each placed his palms together. When they began to converse in low voices, Kakashi turned back to his other students.

"Now, Sakura, you have an earth affinity, which usually deals with crushing or building walls and barriers. Use your knowledge of those characteristics to help draw out the earth chakra. When you have sufficient chakra, attempt to crush this leaf into shreds, and do it successfully to more than one leaf before you come and show me." Sakura nodded her understanding and moved off to find a space to work.

"Naruto, air chakra is the type I know least about, but I can at least set on some basic training exercises before I need to get outside help for you. Take this leaf and try to cut it cleanly with wind chakra. Visualize two pieces of your chakra grinding against each other until they are as thin and sharp as you can make them before attempting to make a cut. Air chakra mostly deals with slashing and cutting, so most of the attacks use some form of blade. Get to it."

Naruto backed off a short ways, found himself a suitable leaf before sitting down and leaning against a handy log. He bowed his head in a moment of silent prayer before quietly creating several dozen clones and sending them out into the forest, as the clearing wasn't large enough for all of them. They all moved off to gather leaves but were soon back and ready for instruction.

Naruto quietly communicated to them what he wanted. "Alright, all of you try to cut the leaves the way Kakashi said. If you have any success, stop working and dispel so that the rest of us get the memories and experience."

Naruto set to work. It took him several minutes to grasp the concept of visualizing his chakra and another few to get it to a remotely workable state. He was reminded of when he had first been trying to find a way into his mindscape to talk the Kyuubi. That had taken even longer than this was taking. It also occurred to Naruto to wonder if the Kyuubi would give him all of his clones' memories immediately. He would need them for this training strategy to work out. With a twinge of guilt, Naruto remembered the state he had left Kyuubi-kun in the last time they had come face-to-face. _I promised to visit him. I owe it to him to make it up to him for treating him like a slave. I'd better go talk to him soon. I wonder what he does inside my head when I'm not around._ The main reason for Naruto's concern about Kyuubi-kun was that he had seemed disoriented in a smaller body and that he had claimed that the new form was affecting his personality and thought processes. If it was true, it was Naruto's fault.

As if in response to the blonde boy's turbulent thoughts, the two half-formed pieces of chakra he had been rubbing and scraping together slipped and one of them grazed the back of his hand, opening up a long, thin cut. Though it was shallow, a few drops of scarlet blood oozed out. As Naruto watched, however, the blood congealed and the new reddish scab quickly turned brown and flaked off before his eyes- not leaving so much a thin, pink scar. He traced one finger over the smooth skin and made up his mind to visit Kyuubi-kun as soon as was possible.

In the meantime- Naruto's mind was suddenly flooded with the chilling slither of invasive thoughts. A few of his clones must have succeeded. He turned, peering into the forest where most of his shadow clones had settled and made a few more. Then he turned back and observed his teammates, noting that Sasuke seemed to be having a limited amount of success poking holes in his leaf and that Oscar and Sakura were having almost no success at all. At first he could not find Kakashi-sensei, until he thought to tilt back his head and check the trees. Sure enough, the silver-haired man was perched on a sturdy branch, little orange book held in a vice-grip that defied anyone to pry it from him and his eye spread and crinkled in a way that suggested that he was smiling under his mask.

With a little shudder, Naruto returned to his own task. He cursed under his breath when he discovered that allowing his focus to shift had caused his chakra blades to go slack and dispel. He got back down to it, closing his eyes to better visualize the chakra and focus better on not overloading the technique. Before he could get too far into it, however, he made a few dozen more shadow clones with the vague hope that pouring a lot of chakra into that jutsu it would leave less for him to deal with while he tried to form chakra blades. He didn't have much hope that this would work, however. He always seemed to have so _much_ chakra to work with.

With difficulty, Naruto once again pictured two bluish slabs of chakra, pausing momentarily as he felt several more clones dispel. When the new memories had settled comfortably alongside his own, he began to scrape the two slabs of chakra together at the edges as if scraping a knife along a sharpening block. He started out with long, slow swipes but quickly grew restive and progressed to rubbing harder in little jerky scrapes. He could sense that the chakra was growing thinner and sharper at the edges and he sped up even further, excitement building. He imagined that the blades were throwing up tiny blue sparks as he scraped them together. A few minutes later the blades were thin and long and deadly and Naruto was just going for one more pass before he moved on to cutting leaves when he seemed to hear a most disturbing noise.

If felt as though instead of the sound entering through his ear in the normal way, it had bypassed that step and resonated directly inside his brain. It was a sharp splintering and cracking sound, but Naruto was too preoccupied by the method of hearing to worry about that for a few moments. When he finally got the chance to observe the blades he had been carefully crafting, he saw two broken shafts, the edges of which were brittle and shattered looking. The broken blades fell from Naruto shaking fingers and dispelled. He stared at his hands for a minute, unable to speak from the shocking waste of effort. Then something clicked and slid inside his head as a dozen more successful clones dispelled and their recollections filled his mind.

The fact that his clones had succeeded where he failed caused him to snap. It was a very quiet snap, and the only way anyone looking on would have spotted it would have been to hear the low growl he gave. He stood up abruptly and ordered his clones to gather and hand him their leaves upon which they had been practicing. They did as he bid and he dispelled them. Then he approached the tree in which his sensei roosted. He quickly made his way up the trunk of the tree until he was standing on a branch in front of and several feet below Kakashi's. He cleared his throat loudly. Kakashi glanced up from his book at Naruto. It seemed to take him a moment to wrench his mind away from the contents of the book and remember who the blonde boy was.

"Yes Naruto?" He asked finally, when the haze of mild confusion had lifted from his eye. "Have you completed the exercise or do you have a question?"

"Well, this is the progress that some of my clones have made," Naruto said, handing him the leaves, some of which definitely showed signs of damage akin to that of a set of knives.

"Very well. And how did you personally do?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, I accidentally cut myself, so I know I got the blade sharp enough to sever skin," Naruto said, hoping that this would satisfy his sensei.

"May I see?" Naruto held out his hand and Kakashi examined it. Naruto suddenly became aware that he had caught the roving attention of his bored teammates who were still on the ground below him. He squirmed slightly, wishing they would look away. "Naruto," Kakashi said carefully, "I could be wrong, but there is no sign of a cut on this hand."

"Of course not. It already healed," Naruto said. Kakashi looked him in the eye. Naruto held his one-eyed gaze for a few moments before the silver-haired man nodded.

"I see," he said. "So, what do you need?"

"I would like to request your permission to move on to something else for the time being," Naruto said formally. He could practically visualize the gapes of his teammates as they heard his tone of voice and the wording of his polite request. He had to admit to himself that it was a bit different than the candor with which he usually addressed Jaitan-sensei. He had learned early on that Jaitan responded better to being treated like someone a bit closer to Naruto's age rather than being spoken to in the formal and wordy way that the four-eyed sensei himself favored.

"May I ask why?" Kakashi asked.

"I feel as though any progress I am going to make today has already been accomplished. To continue would be redundant and I would find it hard to concentrate, possibly hurting myself and my progress in the process."

"I see that the reading lessons with Sakura are paying off," Kakashi remarked with a wry smile. "Very well, you may stop for now, as long as you continue with some other form of training in the meantime. If you need ideas on what to practice, I'll supply a few."

"Thank you Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said devoutly. "It's alright, I have a few ideas of my own." He quickly clambered down from the tree, barely noticing that he had got his tree-walking down to a science. The water-walking training had certainly helped. When he reached the ground, he avoided the eyes of his teammates and paced off a short distance to give himself enough room. He formed four shadow clones and then carefully outlined the plan to them. They did not respond verbally, but then, Naruto's clones rarely ever did. They merely stood very still as if steeling themselves for something unpleasant. Before Naruto began, he wondered if it _would_ be painful for them. In theory, it shouldn't be, but if it was, he would probably get the memories.

Gritting his teeth and quashing those thoughts, Naruto held up a hand and focused on it. Almost before he could ask, a clone was beside him, helping him gather chakra around that hand like a thin, invisible glove. When his hand was sufficiently suffused with chakra from his core, Naruto gently started teasing apart the clone that had helped him, quickly rendering it down to raw chakra and storing it in the arm sporting the chakra glove. He had to struggle hard not to allow the chakra to be pulled back into his core. Then he took hold of another clone with his normal hand and placed the chakra-infused one over the clone's stomach in the place that the Kyuubi's seal was on his own body. He gently released the chakra in his arm and let it flood into the clone. The other two clones held onto the first clone's arms and Naruto could tell they were helping it maintain it's shape which was forcing the chakra inside of it to condense and pack tighter inside of the clone's frame. When the raw chakra stored in Naruto's arm was all spent, he ordered the two other clones to release the altered clone.

His eyes connected with its. He could see no emotion behind its blue eyes. No welcome, no trepidation, no anxiety. Naruto drew back a fist and sunk it into the clone's gut, driving the breath from his surprised doppelganger's lungs. It doubled over wheezing and Naruto stared at it in astonishment. His idea had worked the first time! It hadn't dispelled! The clone collapsed on the ground, vanishing in a puff of smoke no sooner than it's face touched the soft ground. Naruto frowned. _Guess not._ He waited apprehensively for the memories to come, but after a moment, he realized that the memories were not forthcoming. He felt half relieved and half disturbed that, while he did not receive the memories of the pain, he could not choose otherwise.

He shook these thoughts from his head, focusing on what he had just done. Perhaps he should have planned a little more thoroughly before actually diving headfirst into this endeavor. Naruto pulled a scrap of paper out of a back pocket and examined it. _Hm. Guess I should cash that check one of these days,_ he thought. He stowed back in his pocket and surveyed his teammates, deciding who was the best choice to ask.

Finally, he approached Oscar, who was still holding his leaf clasped between his palms as though praying. Oscar quickly busied himself with the leaf, trying to appear as though he hadn't been watching Naruto. "Oi, Oscar-kun," Naruto said, giving Sasuke a brief nod so the Uchiha would not feel he was being snubbed.

"Yes?" that dark boy replied.

"Do you happen to have a piece of a paper and a pencil I could borrow?"

"As it so happens, yes I do," Oscar said. He handed Naruto his leaf before plunging his hands into his pockets. Naruto looked at the leaf he was holding. There were a few tiny pinprick-sized holes near the wider base of the leaf. At the other side were moist-looking green smudges as if someone had scraped away the surface of the leaf in those areas. Looking closer, Naruto saw that the smudges were withered and blackish-brown around the edges. Naruto assumed that those were Oscar's earliest attempts, before he had succeeded in actually piercing the leaf.

"Here we are!" Oscar said triumphantly, pulling a crumpled sheet of paper out a pocket and a slightly leaky pen out of another. He looked at the pen narrowly before handing it over.

"Thank you," Naruto said. He passed Sakura on his way back to where he had been. He sat down on the ground and smoothed the piece of paper on his knee. Carefully holding the pen so as not to get ink on himself, Naruto began to scribble down ideas for forming a more durable a clone. He wrote down a rough list, putting in just enough detail to remind himself later of the ideas. Then he read it over, adding in words where more clarification was necessary. Then he turned the sheet over and, ignoring the little doodles of spiders and webs in one corner and what looked like a scribbly black eye, he proceeded to describe in shorthand what he already done to try and create a durable clone. Finally, after a moment's thought, he added a note at the bottom of the paper- 'Faster way?'

Naruto knew that whatever way he found to make a durable clone, he would have to be able to use it quickly in the heat of battle. However, that seemed to be a query for another day, as Kakashi was finally descending from the tree, stowing his book in a pouch as he came. He approached Sasuke and Oscar first, speaking to them briefly and examining their leaves. Then he progressed to Sakura, who was by that time standing just behind the silver-haired man. Naruto stood up, stuffing his notes into a pocket. He walked towards the rest of his team, arriving just in time to hear Kakashi-sensei dismiss them. The silver-haired man left, pausing only to nod at Naruto before Shunshin'ing away.

Sasuke came up to Naruto, pushing his way between Oscar and Sakura to reach the blonde-haired boy. "Oi, dobe. We're going for ramen. Care to join?"

Naruto wasn't really listening. Another idea had just occurred to him that he was itching to test out- or at least write down. He shook his head vaguely.

Sasuke gave him a startled look. _Did Naruto just turn down ramen? What's going on with him today?_ "O-okay," Sasuke said. I guess we'll see you later, then." The three of Naruto's teammates left, casting many backwards glances at him, as though expecting him to come-to and run after them.

Naruto headed back to the apartment. He drew the crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket as he walked and consulted it, rereading everything he had written. He was actually in his apartment building in the hall outside his door before his head snapped up and the daze lifted from his mind. _Did he say ramen?_ He thought. "Damn it!" He smacked his forehead against the wall beside his door. "Oh well. While I'm here-" Naruto opened his door, shutting it behind him as he entered his familiar apartment.

Settling down at a table, he pulled more paper toward him and started sketching, every once in a while consulting his notes. When he was satisfied, he put down the pen and scooted back until he was sitting leaning against the side of his bed.

_No putting it off any longer,_ Naruto thought. He closed his eyes and focused inwards, arriving with a stagger in the sealing room of the sewer of his mindscape. He just had time to draw a chalk outline around his feet before he was caught by a flying tackle. The back of the blonde boy's head hit the concrete floor quite painfully hard. He saw stars. When his vision had cleared, he saw the hideous slit-eyed face of Kyuubi-kun grinning down at him, framed by the nine red-blonde braids.

"Welcome back, Naruto," Kyuubi-kun said calmly, as if he had not just taken down someone nearly twice his size.

"It took a shorter amount of time than I expected to get in here," Naruto said, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head.

"Of course. It only took longer the first two times because you were unsure of how- or even whether- it could be done. Now that you have accepted that this space is an extension of your own thoughts and mind space, it has become as easy to get here as it is to speak."

"You seem to know a lot about this," Naruto commented wryly.

"Well, I know more than you do. You're the newbie in this situation, not me," Kyuubi-kun said with a half-grimace. "Anyway, I had a lot of time to think since you were here last."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I ought to have visited sooner. There is no excuse for me _not_ coming sooner, not now that we're partners."

"Partners," Kyuubi-kun said, rolling the word around as if tying to decide how it tasted. "I guess we are."

"So, what do you do all day?" Naruto asked.

"Well, when I haven't been sifting through the incredible amount of clones' memories that you receive on a daily basis, I've been working on this project," Kyuubi-kun said, his red eyes lit with enthusiasm. "Come and see it."

Naruto followed the diminutive figure to a point several feet from where Naruto had arrived. There, Kyuubi-kun knelt down, scooping up a number of narrow triangular tiles. He held them up for Naruto to inspect. Naruto saw that more than half of the tiles were a translucent scarlet and quite striking when held up to the light. The other three or four tiles were slightly smaller and were a clear pale blue. Looking past Kyuubi-kun's shoulder to where the tiles had been, Naruto saw a number of small, battered-looking hand tools, the purposes of which he could only guess at.

Finally, Naruto was reduced to asking, "What are you making here? What are these tiles?" He stirred them around with one fingertip.

"The red ones are pieces of my own Youki," Kyuubi-kun explained. "The blue ones are pieces of your chakra. Since you gave me partial access, I decided to experiment."

"What do you mean, 'partial access?'" Naruto frowned. "I gave you free reign."

"No, you gave me _permission_ for full access," Kyuubi-kun corrected him. "That doesn't mean that your chakra reserves are actually allowing me full admission. That's what I've been working on. With any luck, this thing will give me better access, though I doubt anything could actually give me full access, unless you let me possess you."

Naruto nodded silently and Kyuubi-kun turned around a stooped down. As he did, Naruto watched him. Kyuubi-kun hadn't acted as though he desired to possess Naruto, but then again, he hadn't seemed completely opposed to it. _He is not human, however he may appear or act_ Naruto reminded himself. _I must trust him, and yet I must still be cautious. He has every reason to plan revenge against the human race and I wouldn't want to be stuck in anything he attempts._

Kyuubi-kun straightened up holding two tiny chips. Each one was less than half an inch in diameter and hexagonal in shape. They consisted of miniscule sliding panels made of incredibly thin versions of the tiles Naruto had already seen. The two chips were identical except that one was comprised almost entirely of red panels with one blue one nestled among them and the other was exactly the opposite.

"How will those help?" Naruto asked.

"Well, what I'm hoping to do it implant this chip," Kyuubi-kun indicated the mostly-red one, "Into you. In return, you must implant this chip," he waved the mostly-blue one, "Into me. If this works, it will allow me better access to your chakra and you better access to mine. In addition, I'm hoping that they will allow me to talk to you through a mindlink without you having to enter the mindscape. Are you willing to try it?"

Naruto hesitated for a moment. "First, can you explain to me exactly how they work?"

"Of course." Kyuubi-kun pulled Naruto over to the worn and graffitied bench that still stood in the middle of the room for their first encounter. When they were settled, Kyuubi-kun tipped the mostly-blue chip into Naruto's hand and pointed to it. "This is made almost entirely from fragments of your chakra with a piece of my Youki in it. When I go to access your chakra, the regulators should recognize your chakra as kin but identify mine as an invader. Therefore, they will tag me as one other than you, but since I will have some of your chakra in me, they ought to assume that I have your permission for access. As I said, this should give me better- though not complete- access."

Naruto nodded his understanding. "And the other one?"

Kyuubi-kun took the blue chip from Naruto and replaced it with the red one. "This it mostly made from my Youki and should help you reach my Youki without going through me the same way the other chip will work for me."

"And what about the mindlink?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I have no proof that the mindlink will even form, but I'm hoping the exchange of chakra will bond us closely enough for me to speak into your mind and vice-versa. After all, I am composed entirely of Youki and technically inside of you."

"I see. And where exactly are you going to be putting that chip?" Naruto asked apprehensively.

"Just here, right behind the ear," Kyuubi-kun said, pulling forward his own ear to show Naruto where he meant. "Then you will do the same to me."

"And you know what you're doing?" Naruto asked. "You know how to implant one of those?"

"Yes, I have fair idea. I won't be placing it that deep- just below the surface. Anyway, when you leave the mindscape and return to your body, the chip will not actually be implanted in your physical head. The connection is about six-to-seven-tenths symbolic and the rest it chakra."

"I'm not entirely convinced."

"Come on, the worst that can happen isn't really that bad and you won't feel it at all! Anyway, you owe me."

Naruto made a mental note of this use of leverage. But Kyuubi-kun was right, Naruto did owe him. Not wholly reassured, Naruto nodded. "Alright. I give you my permission. Is there anything you need?"

"Yes. Rubber gloves, a sharp, sterile scalpel, and perhaps some morphine for you. And of course a table, a chair for you, and a stool for me," Kyuubi-kun said quickly.

Naruto complied, taking his time over each item so as to prolong the time until he got his head sliced open. _It's not that I don't trust him not to take advantage of me, it's that I don't trust him to know what he's doing,_ Naruto thought grimly. When he had finally produced all of the items that Kyuubi-kun had requested, Naruto sat down in the chair, watching the smaller boyas he arranged the tools on the small table Naruto had formed. Kyuubi-kun then pushed the table and stool over to the right side of Naruto's chair before hopping up onto the stool. He pulled on the rubber gloves and measured out a careful amount of morphine. Then, to Naruto's confusion, he added a tiny cube of the blue substance that he claimed was Naruto's chakra to the morphine. As they waited for the cube to dissolve, Naruto nervously asked what it was for.

"The chakra is to make sure that the morphine doesn't knock you out, kill your projection and slingshot it back into your body, trigger an allergic reaction, isn't rejected by your body's projection, and most importantly that it does its job so you won't feel me cut you open. You see, I'm not using much morphine at all, but I don't know the exact right amount to use on a tangible internal projection. The worst that could happen is that the morphine forces your spirit back to your body before I can perform the implant, but I doubt that that will happen, anyway."

Naruto said nothing as Kyuubi-kun poured the morphine-chakra mixture into a small, shiny syringe. He closed his eyes as Kyuubi-kun brushed back his hair and folded his ear forward out of the way. Naruto felt the needle prick him and a few moments later, a patch of cool, tingly numbness spread from the point of entry. Naruto's fingers gripped the chair's seat convulsively, but nothing else happened.

"How do you feel?" Kyuubi-kun asked.

"Fine," Naruto replied tersely.

"Alright then." Naruto did not know what happened next, but it was several minutes before he thought to open his eyes. He was in time to see Kyuubi-kun pick up a thin, floppy reddish patch.

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"Youki patch," Kyuubi-kun said. "It should heal up the incision without even a scar and help stimulate and activate the chip into the bargain." Naruto didn't feel him place the patch, but he assumed it had worked when he saw Kyuubi-kun relax visibly and start stripping off the rubber gloves. He got down from the stool. "You're all done," he said.

Naruto raised a hand to the right side of his head. His fingers hovered above the skin until Kyuubi-kun told him it was safe to touch it. Naruto ran a finger over the smooth patch of skin behind his right ear. Of course, there was still no feeling in that skin, but his fingers were plenty sensitive. The bone structure there felt slightly more protuberant and more angular than usual under the skin, but apart from that, it seemed to be completely fine. He let out breath he had not known he was holding. "Thank you, Kyuubi-kun."

"Think nothing of it. It's my turn this time. I'll walk you through it, but first please create new instruments," Kyuubi-kun said, climbing up onto the chair Naruto had vacated. Naruto kicked the stool out of the way and created a new vial of morphine, syringe, pair of gloves, and scalpel and arranged them on the table. Kyuubi-kun handed him a red Youki cube and instructed Naruto to let it dissolve in the morphine. As they were waiting for the cube to dissolve, Naruto pulled on the rubber gloves.

"Kyuubi-kun?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Are you nervous?"

The small child froze for a moment. Naruto thought that the bijuu-child had been hoping that Naruto couldn't tell that he was indeed frightened, but Kyuubi-kun relaxed and instead gave a different answer. "How odd. I _am _nervous. Never felt that before. Unusual."

"Kyuubi-kun, you are more human now than you have ever been in the past."

"This is true." Naruto thought that was all he was going to say, but the smaller child spoke again. "Naruto, call me Shujin."

Naruto was slightly unnerved. "Prisoner? But why? We're partners now. Equals."

"That's not true. We may be partners, but we are fundamentally different beings and therefore we will never be truly equal. I am afraid of forgetting that and the fact that I am still imprisoned, no matter how good you are to me. For that reason, I request that you call me Shujin from now on. In any case, it has a better ring to it than Kyuubi-kun," he said with a brittle laugh.

"That it does, Shujin-kun," Naruto said softly, decanting the morphine into the syringe. "Now, instruct me."

Shujin told Naruto just where to inject the morphine and then described the next step. "Make a curved shallow incision about three quarters of an inch long about a quarter of an inch above and behind my ear." Naruto did as he was bid, making the cut smooth and shallow. "Have you done it?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now slide the knife under the flap of skin on the side of the incision facing away from my ear."

"Alright," Naruto said, complying. He held the scalpel very steady as he waited for the next instructions.

"Now slide the knife forward to sever the skin from the bone. Then remove the knife and repeat. Be careful not to elongate the original incision."

Naruto did so. "What next?" he asked, laying down the knife and picking up the mostly-blue chip.

"Gently pull my ear forward to hold the incision open wider. Then slide the chip into the cut so that it sits like a cap on the bone under the flap of skin you severed." Naruto carefully slid the chip into the flap and settled it over the bone.

"Now what?"

Now pick up the Youki patch and lay it over the incision." Naruto did so, watching as the small shiny strip was absorbed into Shujin's skin, healing the cut. He pulled off the rubber gloves. "Finished," he declared. "How do you feel?"

Shujin ran his fingers over the skin behind his right ear, then behind his left for comparison. "Fine, thanks. Let's just hope this works, or this will all be for nothing."

"Hey, at least we had fun," Naruto said.

"Yes, there is that to be considered," Shujin said seriously. He smiled as Naruto started to explain that he had been using sarcasm. "Just kidding." The smile faded. "However, we must first let your body adjust before I attempt to make contact or reach your chakra. I'll wait until tomorrow. It shouldn't take longer than that. After all, the Youki I implanted in you has been inside of you ever since I have." Shujin guided Naruto back to the chalk outlines and then shook his hand. "Goodbye, Naruto-kun."

"Goodbye, Shujin. Take care."

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes to see the blank wall of his room opposite him. He raised a hand and traced his fingers over the nub of bone behind his right ear. It felt no different than usual, nor did it feel different than the one behind his left ear.

"I hope you're right, Shujin," he said quietly.

* * *

That night, when Oscar had returned to the apartment building, Naruto sought him out and described in detail everything that had transpired between himself and Shujin.

"What do you want me to say?" Oscar asked finally.

"Well, I told you what he was like before I humanized him. Do you think the new body has affected him?" Naruto asked anxiously.

"Oh, definitely," Oscar said seriously. A note of professionalism crept into the dark boy's voice as he spoke. "Notice that Kyuubi-kun-"

"Shujin," Naruto corrected him.

"Shujin, then," Oscar amended. "He reminded you that you owe him when you were unwilling to let him put the chip in your head."

"So?"

"That is a thoroughly human method of thinking. He was playing on your kind nature and sense of guilt and rightness. In addition, he was subtly reminding you that you have the upper hand over him and are superior, as if suggesting that if you refused his request, you are too weak to be in charge."

"I don't know," Naruto said. "He insisted that I owed him a favor before I changed him, too. I just think he was banking on my guilt, but that's all."

"Hey, I'm just going by the books and your account. I've never met him. Shall I go on?"

"Please do."

"Well, when you asked him if he was nervous, he was genuinely surprised that he was. That makes sense. Before he was ever sealed in a Jinchuriki, he answered to no one and feared nothing. When he was locked up, I believe he would have felt anger and contempt, but never fear. Therefore, he would be unfamiliar with feeling nervousness, though he obviously has been told what it's supposed the feel like." Oscar paused for breath before going on.

"When he mentioned that controlling your body was one way he could take full control of your chakra, you were afraid that he would attempt to possess you. However, no bijuu can possess their Jinchuriki without the Jinchuriki's permission. In addition, he only brought it up once and did not seem to particularly want to possess you when he mentioned it. Finally, he did not try to persuade you in any way that having full access to your chakra would be beneficial. In fact, he did not mention that he was working on anything that would give him full access and he even implanted the chip, which he claims will only give him partial access."

"But the partial access it will give him is more than the degree of access he had before," Naruto pointed out.

"True, but if he wanted full access, he would not have performed the operation that gives him only partial access for fear that the operation would be irreversible and he would never be able to correct it and get better access."

"Anything else you noticed?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. Probably the most interesting thing that he did was to rename himself. The action of renaming in itself demonstrates a degree of independence- that there is most definitely a part of his mind that feels like you cannot control him and that it will not submit to you. Also his choice of name: Shujin. He is reminding both himself and you that the two of you will never be equal and that he will always feel at least a shade inferior to you."

"Well-" Naruto began, but Oscar cut him off.

"I'm not finished," Oscar said. "There is at least one last thing to be addressed. His old name, Kyuubi-kun, while less formal than Kyuubi no Yoko, was a constant reminder of what he was, what he had done and where he was in the grand scheme of things. If he had just wanted to remind himself that he was a prisoner, Kyuubi-kun would have sufficed. However, he chose to give himself the name of a human word."

"Kyuubi is a human word, too," Naruto pointed out.

"True, but he did not come up with it. Shujin is a human word of his own choosing. He is showing that he has changed and hopes to continue changing, getting farther and farther from who he used to be. He is ashamed of what he has done in the past and has picked a new name so as to disassociate himself from the Kyuubi no Yoko who killed hundreds of people thirteen years ago. He wants you to know all of this, too, or he wouldn't have asked you to stop calling him Kyuubi-kun."

"That makes sense," Naruto said slowly. "And it explains why he called himself 'Shujin.' He wants to reform, but he doesn't want to forget why he needs to reform."

"Exactly."

"Thank you for explaining it to me, Oscar-kun," Naruto said gratefully.

"No problem. After all, psych evaluations are supposed to be my specialty." Oscars voice was cheerful, but Naruto thought he could just make out a bitter undertone to the words.

As he returned to his own room, Naruto thought about that bitterness, not just Oscar's, but Sasuke's earlier that day when he found that he had a different affinity than his brother and Shujin's, too, of course. _Shujin._ "Perhaps we are all prisoners of one kind or another," Naruto whispered to himself, flicking the light off in his room and slipping into bed.

* * *

A/N: Finished! This is my longest chapter yet by over two thousand words! In fact, the total word count for chapter 18 IS OVER NINE THOUSAND! :D

A few things to address:

1)Sakura has seen Sasuke shirtless because she is a Sasu-stalker.

2)The odd comment Oscar made about not having the gene to taste the chemical on the chakra-test paper was based on the fact that there are certain chemicals that only some people can taste, depending on whether or not they were born with the gene. The way to test if you have the gene is to put a small piece of paper with the chemical on it in your mouth. If you taste something, you have the gene.

3)Naruto has gone too long without pulling a prank, so I decided to let him have one. You may have noticed that the description of the transformation was one or two things in common with the Kyuubi before Naruto changed his appearence. Kakashi immediately activated his sharingan and saw that it was only a transformation, but he did not hold the team back because he was annoyed at Naruto for interupting.

4)Naruto will have to do more work on trying to make a more durable clone, as though he doesn't have enough to do.

5)More to come on that mindlink.

6)I have never formally or informally studied psychoanalysis, though I intend to, eventually. There was more Oscar could have pointed out about what Shujin said and did, but I wanted to wrap up the chapter, so i had him just hit the high points.

I enjoyed writing this chapter. I hope enjoyed reading it. BYE!

TWENTY LESS WORDS AND THIS CHAPTER WOULD BE AN EVEN TEN THOUSAND! By the way, i recently went back and edited all of the older chapters. Check that out!


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter IXX

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Naruto brought his hands together in a familiar seal. "Kage Bunshin no- Ahh!" The half-formed chakra dispelled instantly as Naruto crouched down, clutching his head. He had felt the disturbing sensation of sounds echoing directly inside of his skull without passing through his eardrums first. It was worse than trying to listen to someone speak while performing an underwater somersault and Naruto resisted the urge to retch.

Naruto was vaguely aware that someone had approached him and was asking him if he was all right. He held up a hand and waved them away, concentrating on not being sick. Suddenly the feeling intensified, accompanied by the fuzzy notion that someone was trying to communicate with him.

Swallowing hard, Naruto sat down right where he was on the ground and closed his eyes, sending a tentative probe after the feeling. Suddenly, the words clicked into focus and the nausea mostly abated. Naruto-kun?

_Shujin-kun? Is that you_?

Naruto had the oddest sensation that the demon fox was rolling his eyes. No, this is one of the _other_ bijuu sealed inside your head. Of course it's me! How does this link feel from out there?

_Really strange. It's quite difficult to think words without saying them aloud. It also feels like your words are irritating my brain that there's no way I can fix it_.

Funny… Shujin muttered.

_What's that_?

I'm just speaking aloud. If you're just thinking, let me try without speaking instead…Hang on… Is that better? The last of these words were completely clear and arrived in Naruto's head as naturally as though they were his own thoughts.

_Yeah! That helped_. Naruto blinked, something occurring to him. _Can you see what I see_?

Wait… what? Yes! Great Log, I can! I completely forgot to test that! Shujin sounded equal parts agitated and elated. Where are you?

Naruto looked around the large field, taking in Jaitan, who was apparently lecturing Shikamaru, Sasuke, who was doing something clever with a couple of leaves, Kiba, who was playing keep-away with Akamaru and losing, Shino, who had his hands together in an unfamiliar seal which he was explaining to Hinata, Oscar, who was in the act of begging a chip off of Choji, and Sakura and Ino, who were arguing.

_I'm in a field_.

And who are they?

_Those are my friends_.

You have friends?

_ Ouch, that hurts,_ Naruto thought, stung.

Well, it's not like you've ever mentioned knowing anyone but me! Shujin objected.

_Wow, self-centered much?_

Well, when you're locked away for three generations with no one but yourself…

Three _generations?_

Yes. Naruto waited for Shujin to continue but when he did not, Naruto assumed he did not want to talk about his previous demon containers.

_Guess he just cut the connection without saying goodbye. Rude, but understandable, I guess. Must remember he is not human._ Naruto stood up, brushing grass and leaves off of himself and looking around to notice that all of his friends were grouped around both of Jaitan and were nodding as he gave out instructions.

"Never a rest for the weary," Naruto sighed as he jogged over. He stopped behind Sakura and asked what was happening.

"Remember that challenge we did in the Forest of Death?" She asked, half-turning toward him to glance back over her shoulder. Naruto did remember. "Well, he's about to tell us what the reward is for the winners," she said primly.

"Ah, I take it you didn't win, then," Naruto surmised with a smile.

"Neither did you," Sakura said haughtily, turning away. Naruto rolled his eyes before turning his attention to his sensei.

"_Any_way," Jaitan said, one of his faces curiously blank while the other stared daggers at Sakura and Naruto, "As I was saying, I promised all of you a new jutsu in exchange for cooperation during the last challenge that Anko so kindly supplied for us. Though the original plan was only to teach this jutsu to those who completed the challenge, well, plans change. I will be teaching all of you Shunshin." Here, the Jaitan who had thus far remained silent caught sight of Anko's fuming expression and quietly sidled around his counterpart so that the other Jaitan was between him and Anko. "Damn," that one muttered. "I probably just earned myself snakes in my bed tonight for that move." The Jaitan who had first spoken and was just then acting as a human meat shield turned and carefully and calmly studied Anko's expression, his gray eyes neutral as that scanned her face, taking in the narrowed eyes and gritted teeth. "Probably poisonous snakes," that Jaitan concluded, nodding gravely.

"Hang on," Ino interjected, "Isn't Shunshin pretty advanced?"

Jaitan blinked at her, nonplussed. "Well, yes, but I figured you could handle it. I don't expect you to get it immediately, but it ought to be fairly useful for chakra control training even if you cannot grasp it, yes?"

"Why bother?" Shikamaru yawned. "We can just Kawirimi."

"See previous comment," Jaitan said. He seemed slightly put out. "What about working on smokeless, seal-less kawirimi, then? Can you do that?"

"Troublesome," Shika groaned.

"Come on, Shika-kun, it should be easier than Shunshin," Choji said coaxingly, or as coaxingly as one can through a mouth full of crumbs.

Jaitan rolled his eyes and began to walk away. "Dismissed," He said. When he was a little ways away, he said, "Shikamaru?"

"Yeah?"

Without breaking stride, Jaitan whirled around and hurled a kunai straight at Shika's chest, hand-grip first. It hit the Nara several inches below the sternum and everyone around him heard both the heavy clunk of the thick ring impacting Shika's chest and the whoosh as his breath left him. He sat down hard on the ground and bowed over, struggling for air.

"Either learn to Kawirimi faster and more efficiently, or I'll teach you Shunshin. Either one you pick, I will expect you to be able to do it seal-less and smokeless and fast enough to dodge that kunai. It's your choice."

Choji helped Shika back to his feet. "Kawirimi, then," Shikamaru muttered, rubbing his chest.

"Very well," Jaitan said, gravely. Then, so fast that almost no one saw it, his other self was gone, just a sort of flickering out of existence so quick that everyone present almost missed it before he was back, casually tossing and catching the kunai that had not been in his hand a moment before. He then handed the heavy blade back to his counterpart who held it up mockingly for a moment before stowing it away.

_That was very neat,_ Naruto thought admiringly. _No seal, no calling out the jutsu name, no smoke, and no disorientation. Wish I could do that._

Why not? Came the unbidden thought.

_Shujin? Are you speaking to me again?_ Naruto asked, confused.

Hm? Oh, yes. And didn't he just say you would _have_ to learn what he just did?

_That was Shunshin, not kawirimi._

Why can't you learn both? They are different, I take it?

_ Well I _could _learn both_,_ but it would be hard, considering how many different techniques I'm working on right now._

Didn't you once tell me you would train as hard as it took?  
_ Yes, but this is a slightly different type of decision. Then, it was about willingness to be trained to use your powers. Now, I'm perfectly willing to learn both jutsu, but I would need help trying to balance my time between all the things I'm trying to do. _

I'll help you. Just tell Jaitan now that you want to learn both.

Naruto, surprised at the conviction in Shujin's voice, did as he was bidden, drawing Jaitan aside and requesting training in both a more perfect Kawirimi and in Shunshin. Jaitan seem surprised but pleased. He set Naruto to work at once on both things, pointing out that Naruto could use clones to learn both jutsu and not disrupt any training schedule Kakashi-sensei had given him . When Naruto heard this, it was all he could do not to slap himself for not thinking of it. Of course! Shadow clones would solve most of his problems in the department of jutsu waiting for him to perfect. It took him a moment to identify the blurry echoes in his head, but a moment later he realized that Shujin was laughing at him. Shujin most certainly had not forgotten what Naruto could do. Naruto could have kicked the fox-boy for not reminding him. Shujin dared him to just try it, but Naruto retorted that he would restrain himself; one of them had to be mature.

Oh, you've decided to be mature? I hadn't noticed. Shujin mocked. Or is this how all humans behave when they're being mature?

"Is something wrong, Naruto-kun?" Jaitan asked.

"No, everything is _fine_, Jaitan-sensei," Naruto said. He had to get away. "I'll go start… practicing, shall I?" Without waiting for an answer, he darted off. After hastily making about two thousand clones and setting them to work, he retreated into his mindscape where he proceeded to chase Shujin all around the round, stone chamber, roaring that he would _get_ the little bijuu!

Shujin raced ahead of him, laughing in breathless whoops and throwing incoherent remarks at Naruto over his shoulder. He laughed harder in great shrieks when Naruto, with his longer legs and better control of the mindscape, caught him. Naruto wrestled him to the ground, flipped Shujin onto his back and began tickling him. Shujin screeched and wriggled in protest, laughing all the while. Naruto only stopped his relentless onslaught when he received a sharp bite from Shujin, right across the knuckles of his right hand. He sat back on his heels and Shujin curled up, knees held tight to his chest. He was grinning still, but his voice was sulky.

"Don't do that."

"Alright, take it easy." Naruto held up his hands, palms outward in a classic I-surrender gesture. The puncture marks on the back of his hand seemed to be healing much more slowly than they would have done outside the mindscape, Naruto noticed. Those teeth were _sharp._ _Note to self,_ Naruto thought, _Next time I_ _decide to make a Bijuu into a human, make sure he doesn't have teeth any sharper than his tongue. _Shujin didn't make any outward appearance that he had heard Naruto's thoughts. _Interesting._ Naruto decided to try an experiment. _Hey, Shujin!_ He thought. _How's life in the sewers? I bet it's almost as nice as life in Konoha. Made any new friends lately?_ Shujin didn't so much as roll his eyes. "Shujin?" Naruto asked, tentatively.

"What?" clearly the demon was not happy.

"Can you hear my thoughts while I'm in here?"

"Well, I haven't heard anything since you got here. Though I suppose there is the distinct possibility that that's because you haven't used your brain since you got here."

"Point to you," Naruto said. "However, I just tried to communicate with you in my head and nothing happened." Shujin's eyes focused on Naruto's as though he was actually paying attention.

"What is the significance of that?" Shujin asked sharply.

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe there's no significance. Just thought you should know."

Shujin nodded pensively before his eyes flicked away from Naruto's, to the bars of his old cage on the far wall. He suddenly sat up straighter and impatiently pushed the pale braids of his hair away from his face and ears, as if to hear better. "You ought to go," he said tensely, as though he was dividing his concentration between talking and interpreting what he was listening to.

Naruto stood up and Shujin followed suit, absent-mindedly accepting Naruto's hand to help himself up. "Why?" Naruto asked.

"Your shadow clones just started to train. Perhaps you should make a few more and get them to work on some of your other problems, wind chakra for one."

"Alright. Thanks, Shujin-kun."

"Until we speak again, Naruto-kun," Shujin said, lowering his voice impressively so it resonated throughout the stone chamber. He hunched his shoulders and wiggled his fingers in a pseudo-spiritual way. Naruto could not suppress a grin as he left.

* * *

Naruto found it suspiciously easy to sneak away from the training ground when his clones were filling more than two-thirds of the space already. He had gotten some disbelieving looks from his fellow rookie genin when he just kept producing shadow clones in such large batches. He headed for training ground seven, goals clearly in mind. He had done as Shujin had suggested and set a new group of shadow clones to work practicing wind chakra. Before leaving the field, he had taken a moment to climb a tree and see how the valley filled with thousands of his doppelgangers looked from above. It was a little like someone had taken a green piece of cloth and thickly splatter-painted it yellow. Naruto chuckled at the thought of what the place would have looked like were he still wearing orange every day. At this, an idea for a prank slowly began percolating in his mind. It wasn't the type of thing he usually went in for, but who would notice but him?

Naruto shook himself from his musings as he arrived at training ground seven. Quickly, he set up, carefully pulling a list from his pocket and smoothing out the ink-stained, crumpled piece of paper before setting it down on the ground. Forming a handseal, Naruto took a brief moment to wonder whether he ought, by rights, to be feeling some chakra drain at that point, but the thought didn't trouble him for long. Two dozen clones poofed into being and he began his work.

Making a more durable clone was not proving as easy as Hinata had made it sound when she had proposed the idea. Naruto retested the method he had previously tried, filling the shell of a shadow clone with chakra until the chakra became dense with compressing it. As soon as he had finished making a few of these, he set them to spar with normal-strength shadow clones, not wanting to waste time between experiments testing the altered clones himself.

The next method he tried was to build a clone one layer of chakra at a time, starting with a shadow clone a foot high and adding until it was the same height as he was. Even though he was determined to complete at least one clone using this method, one clone took so long that Naruto had vetoed it as the solution to all of his problems long before he finished creating it.

Naruto persisted, trying combinations of ideas that he had had before and even coming up with one or two on the spot that were begging to be tested. It was not until hours later, tired and winded from chakra-depletion, that it occurred to Naruto that perhaps the particular type of chakra he was using was causing the problem, for none of his experimental clones had lasted indefinitely, though some had been moderately successful. When the idea that it was his particular strain of chakra that was causing the problems came to him, Naruto was at first intrigued by the implications and possibilities before he realized the true meaning of this discovery was that he would have to retest every combination he had tried that day, assuming, of course, the he managed to find a way to alter his chakra strain to be more durable and energy-efficient. He groaned aloud thinking of all the wasted efforts of the day. At least he was able to console himself with the fact that his clones had been working hard on Kawirimi and Shunshin, and on his wind chakra control all the while he had been working.

It took a good week for Naruto to come up with a functional durable shadow clone design, though his methods in building it were painfully slow. Luckily, once he knew how it could be done, he could delegate the task of refining the process and making it faster to a couple of garden-variety shadow clones while he turned his attention to the progress his clones had been making on perfecting his use of wind chakra. It was the day after he had come across his winning shadow clone design that he had decided to start making personal headway on his wind chakra blades.

* * *

Naruto showed up for training right on time, as had become his custom. Usually most of the other rookie ten arrived around the same time, with a few notable exceptions. Sasuke, however, was always there before Naruto, though Naruto did not immediately realize that the Uchiha was absent until all the others had assembled. Only then did he think to wonder about the auspicious lack of Sasuke. When Sasuke finally did arrive, out of breath and a good ten minutes late, Naruto though he caught a flash of red in the Uchiha's eyes. _Funny, why does he have his sharingan activated?_ Naruto wondered. However, when he looked Sasuke in the eyes properly, he saw no trace of red in the retinas. The scleras, however looked slightly irritated, as though Sasuke had been rubbing his eyes too hard for an extended period of time. But why would he do that?

When Naruto questioned Sasuke, the only thing that the Uchiha would say was, "I went to watch the sunset," a statement Naruto could make neither head nor tail of, it being still early in the morning. He assumed that Sasuke must have just woken up late and was unwilling to admit it.

In the meantime, Naruto could now slice a leaf cleanly in two with only a minimum of effort and concentration. He informed Kakashi the next time he saw him, and Kakashi gave him a new exercise to work on while the silver-haired man went to call in a favor and try to get Naruto something he could really practice on. For the time being, Kakashi gave Naruto a bowl of water. The idea was for Naruto to use wind chakra to create a skin around the water and hold the water together in a sphere to get him used to some of the other aspects of wind chakra besides simple cutting. This exercise was proving much more difficult than just cutting a leaf and Naruto was able to get the sphere only halfway formed before the water splashed back into the bowl.

On the other side of training ground seven, Sasuke and Oscar were showing Kakashi their prowess at lightning chakra, to which he responded by setting them to work trying to imbue weapons, namely kunai, with their lightning chakra. "Remember," Kakashi said, "If you can enhance a weapon with lightning chakra, its primary use is piercing and electrifying as well as enhancing existing blades." The silver-haired man drifted off to consult with Sakura about her own elemental powers while Oscar and Sasuke drew out a kunai each. Watching out of the corner of his eye, Naruto noticed that each had a different approach to trying to imbue their kunai.

Sasuke wrapped his fingers tightly around the grip of his kunai and closed his eyes, clearly concentrating hard. Oscar, on the other hand, kept his eyes open and seemed to be playing with the knife. He was turning it over and over, occasionally running a finger up and down the blade before switching hands and trying again. Naruto could only take this in through sidelong looks, as he was supposed to be working on his own elemental mastery at the same time. Half an hour or so later, Naruto was considering getting a few shadow clones to help him out when he noticed a flurry of movement across the clearing. The kunai Oscar was holding was crackling and flickering, and Naruto caught the distinct small of ozone.

"Sasuke, look!" Oscar said. Sasuke did not open his eyes; in fact, he appeared to squeeze them tighter shut.

"Leave me alone. I'm trying to get this," Sasuke said through gritted teeth.

But Oscar wouldn't leave him alone. "Sasuke?" he said, tapping the other boy's shoulder. "Look at this. Sasuke." Sasuke half turned away from Oscar, who persisted in trying to get the attention of the Uchiha. "Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke, look. Sasuke." But the Uchiha refused to abandon his own work to look at Oscar's. Finally, impatient, Oscar touched the crackling kunai in his hand to Sasuke's shoulder. "Look!"

The Uchiha jerked from the electric shock and whirled around, eyes wide. "What? What do you want?" he half shouted. In answer, the darker boy proudly held up his kunai. "That's it?"

Oscar looked disappointed at Sasuke's reaction. "Fine, _be_ that way. Let's see you do better." Sasuke hunched his shoulders, fingers still tightly gripping his own obviously unremarkable kunai, "I could have shocked your elbow instead of your shoulder, you know. That would have hurt a whole lot more, even though I didn't put that much chakra into it," Oscar said sulkily.

"Why would it have hurt more?" Sakura asked interestedly, temporarily forgetting her own assignment. Naruto assumed she had missed the part where Oscar shocked Sasuke or she would have been on him like a mother wolf protecting her cub.

"Nerve ending cluster," was Oscar's only reply. It seemed to make more sense to Sakura than it did to Naruto, but Naruto thought he understood well enough that whatever Oscar had said was something that got hurt a lot.

As he let his mind wander, Naruto was brought back to the task at hand when the water in the bowl splashed down, sending a mini-tsunami into his lap. Naruto looked down. Great. He moved into the sun so his pants would dry faster and fervently hoped no one would notice. To that end, he created a few shadow clones, which would serve the dual purpose of helping him with the training exercise and blocking him from the sight of his teammates while his clothes dried.

* * *

"Oi, Tenzo," Kakashi called. After a moment in which Kakashi knew his old friend was considering whether or not to come out, an ANBU sporting the distinctive mask of a cat appeared, falling into step beside Kakashi as the silver-haired man began walking away.

"Hai, Kakashi-senpai?"

"You know that favor you owe me?" Kakashi asked casually.

"Are you finally going to call it in?" Tenzo asked, a mock-hopeful note in his voice.

"No, I'm not, but I still need you to do something for me. Well, It's actually for one of my students."

"Ah yes, the first genin team to pass your test. A team of four, if I recall rightly. And how is that going?"

"As well as can be expected. I don't even oversee the majority of their training, but I know that the man who does, Jaitan, has hopes of my team, as well as the other two rookie genin teams being entered in the chunin exam this year."

"Do you think your team is ready?"

"Ready to be made chunin? Not quite. But in a few months, by the time the exams come around, I think they will at least be ready to try to prove themselves."

Tenzo accepted this with a slight nod before bringing the topic of conversation around to the reason of their meeting. "So, Kakashi-senpai, what exactly was the favor you wanted to ask of me?"

"Well, I've been training my team to manipulate elemental chakra recently," Kakashi said, not because he was unwilling to get to the point, rather because he felt he owed his old friend an explanation.

Tenzo whistled. "A tall order, particularly for rookies."

"I know, but they can handle it. One of them, Uzumaki Naruto, has a wind affinity, a particularly strong one, too."

"Uzumaki Naruto," Tenzo said slowly. "Describe him."

"Blonde hair, blue eyes." Kakashi paused before adding, "Determined to become a Hokage to surpass the previous four to protect the people he cares about."

Tenzo glanced at Kakashi sharply, eyes finding the cyclops' through the holes in the painted mask. "I see."

"I was going to ask Asuma-san to train him, and I still will, but I want Naruto to try something a bit different before he moves on to that. Do you think you could oblige?"

"I think I've got just the thing," Tenzo said.

* * *

Naruto stared in awe at the waterfall before him. _Kakashi-sensei must have friends in high places,_ he thought. Then his thoughts caught up with his ears. "You want me to what?"

"Cut the waterfall. Stop the flow. Once you can do that, I'll get Asuma to teach you," Kakashi said. "You might find it helpful to water-walk, in order to get closer. I'll leave you to it." Naruto incredulously watched Kakashi retreat.

_Cut the waterfall?_ Naruto shrugged. He knew he could probably get the hang of it eventually. After all, he had never thought he would be able to tree-walk. All the same, there seemed little point to devoting all of his time to this exercise. He created a couple of shadow clones, giving them strict instructions. He grinned as they walked out into the middle of the water and began following up on his directions. _It's so nice to delegate._ Naruto left, the idea of setting up a new prank firmly in mind. He wanted to do a bit of physical training later that day, something he discovered could not be worked on via shadow clones, but for now, with his clones occupied in practicing all of his new jutsu and techniques, he felt justified in taking a bit of time off to pull a prank and maybe visit Ichiraku's.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so this chapter took a ridiculous amount of time to get around to writing. I'm sorry. Good news: I will soon be starting a new fic for a challenge and I will write both that one and this one at the same time. However, it may take a while for me to post the first chapter of the Challenge fic after I start writing it because I want to PM the author who came up with the Challenge and get permission. Okay! now on to stuff about this chapter!

-For those who do not know, Tenzo was Yamato's codename while Kakashi was an ANBU, so that's what Kakashi still calls him

-With any luck, the Chunin exams will start in the chapter after the next one

-I think Sasuke regrets watching the sunset

-NaruHina in the next few chapters

-**The next chapters will be both longer and more interesting. This I swear through blood and bone by ship and shore with heart, soul, and mind.**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter XX

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Sasuke, Sakura and Oscar could hear the running water long before they could see the waterfall. When it came into view, they could see many blonde-haired figures cavorting around the base of the waterfall where the water was crashing down over the rocks and throwing up a fine mist. In addition, there were few on either bank of the river at the base of the falls and a few more who were struggling to keep their footing in the middle of the rush off water at the very top of the drop-off. When the three non-Naruto members of team seven were close enough for the shadow clones to see and hear, Oscar yelled over the sound of the roaring water to know what the Narutos were doing.

Blonde heads turned eagerly and many blue eyes focused on the three interlopers. Shortly, almost all of the clones were scampering toward the three genin, clamoring to be heard. They were each, even those who had not abandoned their posts, insisting that he was the real Naruto.

Oscar, Sasuke, and Sakura looked around at the laughing, yelling, whiskered faces in confusion, unable to tell which one was really the original. Unbeknownst to them, all of Naruto's shadow clones loved to tell people that they were the original, not because they truly believed it or even wanted it to be true, but because it was fun to watch the confusion of those who could not tell who the original was. Sometimes they would each chaotically insist on the fact that _they_ were the original, as they were doing just then, but sometimes the clones would organize themselves quite cleverly, selecting a single clone that all of the others would claim to be the original.

Naruto knew all this of course, and often went along with it if he was present.

Finally, not caring if he got the original or a copy, Oscar snagged the waving sleeve of one of the Narutos and asked to know what was going on. All of the other shadow clones fell quiet so that only the sound of the pounding water could be heard in the background as the clone that Oscar had singled out explained the nature of the wind-chakra exercise that Kakashi had assigned Naruto.

"He wants you to cut a waterfall?" Sakura asked incredulously. She was greeted by a flurry of nods.

"How's that going?" Sasuke asked.

In the mass slithering of a unanimous movement that has never been rehearsed, all of the shadow clones shrugged expressively. "I'm sure we'll get it soon," one of the nearby clones said confidently. "We've had some good signs and even a bit of success."

Oscar looked around at the ring of clones. No one was sure if he had been listening to them or not. "Okay," he said finally, "This is kind of creepy. Which one of you is the original?"

The clones chuckled, sharing a joke. One spoke up. "None of us. The original isn't here right now, but if you'd like to leave a message, we'd be happy to tell him."

Sakura frowned. "If he's not here, then where is he?"

* * *

Naruto leaned over to peer at the word Hinata was pointing to. "Prok-sim-i-tee," he carefully sounded out. He glanced up at Hinata for confirmation and she nodded, giving him an encouraging smile. "So, what does proximity mean?" Naruto asked, leaning back to look Hinata in the eyes. They were sitting in a public park, something Naruto had not often attempted to do. In fact, he was still getting annoyed looks from passersby, but none of them dared to comment with the Hyuuga clan heiress sitting beside him. In any case, it wasn't as if the pair was sitting on a bench by one of the main paths; they were sitting on the ground leaning against a couple of trees, the canopies of which mostly sheltered the pair from the eyes of those on the main paths.

Hinata explained the word to Naruto as he reflected that asking Hinata to help him read was a much better idea than getting Sakura to do it. The fact was, Naruto could now read decently well; the part he needed help with was better understanding some of the wordier texts he was currently studying. He was broken from his train of thoughts when he realized that Hinata was looking at him expectantly, clearly waiting for an answer to a question.

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?" Naruto said.

"I was wondering if you were the original or a clone," Hinata said.

Naruto shrugged, "You could always hit me and find out," Naruto suggested, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"I wouldn't want to do that," Hinata said, "Just tell me."

"That's why this _is_ the real me. When I get Sakura to read with me, I always have to give her a shadow clone so that she knows if she hits it, the clone will just dispel and she'll have to come find me to get a new one to teach. But I'm here in person now because I know you won't hit me if I annoy you."

"Since when have you ever annoyed me in the first place?" Hinata asked.

"Haven't I? Huh, that's never happened before," Naruto said. Hinata blushed a little and dropped her eyes to the book in her lap. Idly, she brushed away a stray fragment of leaf that had fallen from the tree above them.

To cover the awkward moment, Naruto began to read again, soon getting into the rhythm of the words and having to stop less and less frequently to work on his pronunciation. Every so often, he was forced to ask Hinata to define a word for him that he didn't know, but she was never condescending about it. At one point, Hinata had to move her left hand out from under the book to brush a leaf off of the page, but afterward she left her hand resting on the page. Naruto stumbled over a couple of words he knew that he had read before because he was busy glancing over at that hand. Eventually, he reached out his right hand, the one closest to Hinata's left, and slid it under hers, twining his fingers with hers and gripping them firmly and all the while, he didn't stop reading.

* * *

Sasuke rolled his eyes- he should have known that the clones wouldn't tell them that the real Naruto wasn't there and just assumed that he wasn't from the start- but just then a shout went up from one of the clones that was still standing at the base of the waterfall instead of clustering around Sasuke, Sakura, and Oscar. Sasuke peered over the heads of the clones around him to see that the clone at the base of the waterfall was somehow causing the flow of water to completely cease at a point several feet above the clone's head. After a moment or so, the flow resumed, water from above crashing down as though released from a boundary.

Immediately, all of the clones that had been clustered around the other members of team seven broke ranks, converging on the successful clone who emerged, triumphant, from the river and stepped out onto the bank. From what Sasuke could hear, all of the other clones were yelling at the successful one over the crash of water behind them telling him to expel.

"Alright!" he bawled, "Just hang on a moment!" The clone expelled in a puff of smoke and all of the other clones looked at each other wonderingly before each began attempting to imitate the first clone. It looked like they were making only as much headway as the first one had made, though they were all trying to improve on his progress. It would be a while before any of them could hold back the water for longer.

* * *

Over the past couple of days, Naruto had settled into a regular training routine. Depending on how many of the clones he had made the day before, he would make more and instruct all of them to continue performing chakra exercises and practicing any new jutsu, namely Kawirimi and Shunshin, though he always made sure to have some clones working to cut the waterfall and some working on refining his durable clone design.

In the meantime, while his clones did all of the chakra work for him, Naruto himself focused on physical training, and it wasn't long before Jaitan agreed to up the weight settings of Naruto's training weights. For the most part, Naruto trained alone, though he would occasionally get someone else to spar with him. Usually Naruto chose to spar with Sasuke, as the two were reasonably matched physically and neither had to worry about the other holding back. From an offhanded comment that Sasuke made, Naruto wondered if Shujin's rapid healing was affecting the rate at which he advanced in physical prowess.

It wasn't too long before Naruto received the inrush of memories signifying that something that Shujin deemed important had happened to one of Naruto's shadow clones. When Naruto examined these recollections, he was pleased to find that the group of clones he had deployed to the waterfall had managed to accomplish the task that Kakashi had set Naruto.

Naruto arrived at the waterfall, staggering, breathless, and muddy down one side. His Shunshin still needed a lot of work. He had had a slight unintentional encounter with a ditch on his way, an experience he did not want to repeat, at least not until he could change into clean clothes or until the mud dried and peeled off.

When all of the clones saw the mud on Naruto, they all immediately knew he was the original and, snickering a bit, they all dispelled. Naruto paused for a moment as most of their memories filled his head. When the thoughts had taken their places alongside Naruto's own memories of the same timeframe, Naruto moved forward, casually beginning to water walk the moment his foot touched the surface of the turbulent water. Over the last couple of days, as Naruto's shadow clones had gotten the hang of water walking on a moving body of water, so had Naruto.

Consulting his new memories, Naruto faced the waterfall and raised his arms slightly, never one to waste an opportunity for melodramatic theatrics. Shaping and directing his wind chakra in the way his clones had discovered, Naruto cut off the flow of the waterfall, allowing the water that was already falling to complete its downward motion, but holding the rest of the water in check. Naruto stood for a full minute like that, on tenterhooks should he begin to feel drained of chakra, but he felt fine. It seemed that it _was_ possible for all of those clones performing chakra exercises to increase his ridiculous reserves. Hopefully that went for control as well.

Naruto released the wind chakra he had been using to cut off the flow of water and quickly got out of the center of the river as all of the pent-up water rushed down so fast, it was almost as though the liquid was embarrassed lest anyone had noticed it had paused.

Naruto wondered whether or not to try to Kawirimi to Kakashi to inform him of his success. It would be good practice, but Naruto didn't know exactly where to find Kakashi at that time. In any case, the mud on Naruto's face and clothes hadn't yet completely dried, and Naruto wasn't ready to have another accident with a ditch yet. To that end, Naruto decided it would be better physical training to try to keep running until he found Kakashi. If he put it as a challenge to himself to see how long he could manage without enhancing his muscles with chakra, it would make finding his sensei faster and more enjoyable.

It didn't take more than fifteen minutes for Naruto to find Kakashi, and by that point Naruto was barely out of breath, though he knew it wasn't much of an accomplishment. He consoled himself with the facts that he had been running hard and fast and he was wearing the training weights.

In any case, there was Naruto's sensei, little orange book open to somewhere near the middle and a stick of dango held apparently forgotten in the other hand.

Doesn't he have to remove his mask to eat? Naruto heard Shujin wonder. Naruto did not respond, but he had been wondering the same thing. "Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto said tentatively.

Kakashi grunted as if he had heard and slowly turned his head so that his face was vaguely aimed in Naruto's direction, but it was a few seconds before he actually tore his eyes away from the contents of his book. He flipped it shut with one hand and stowed it in his weapons pouch. Without looking, he set the stick of dango down on dish on a counter conveniently located just beside his hand. There were already a few empty sticks on the plate and Naruto once again wondered if his sensei had removed his mask to eat the dango.

"Hai, Naruto?" Kakashi said.

"I have managed to cut the waterfall, sensei. You told me that once I had finished the task you gave me, you would get Asuma to teach me more about wind chakra."

"You can already cut the waterfall?" Kakashi said, a note of professional interest creeping into his voice. "How long can you hold it for?"

"Well, I held it for a good minute and didn't feel any drain, but I feel certain I could hold it for a good while longer with no problems. I didn't test how long I could do it for," Naruto explained.

Kakashi nodded. "Very well. I will speak to Asuma today for you and tell you when you can start training with him. Does that suit you?" Naruto nodded eagerly. "Good. Now, if you don't mind," Kakashi once again fetched out his orange book and picked up the stick of dango once again. Naruto knew he was being dismissed. He was disappointed, knowing he wouldn't get to see Kakashi pull down his mask to eat the dango if he left, but he also knew it wouldn't be right to stay. He walked away, casting one last lingering glance over his shoulder.

* * *

Naruto ran his fingertips over the serrated edge of the knife, letting them trace the jagged ridges up and down. The knife was solid and heavy, but not unduly so. Naruto handed it back to Asuma who accepted it with a nod. "You have been taught, I assume, to make your wind chakra into a blade capable of cutting a leaf, correct?" Naruto nodded. "Show me."

When Naruto had satisfied Asuma, the Jounin instructed him to take out a kunai. "Now, any knife has a blade capable of cutting already, but if you can channel wind chakra through a knife, its reach becomes longer and its slash more deadly. The thing is, you must not only channel the wind chakra, you also have to shape it. The better chakra control you have, the more effective your blades will be. The blades you already know how to make are fine for cutting leaves, but are a bit too thin and fragile to be enough in a real fight. You are essentially layering chakra over the edges of your kunai to extend, thicken, and sharpen the blade. Also, at least in the beginning, you may find it helpful to create a wind chakra blade that follows the basic shape and form of the blade you are using as a base. You already know how to form sharp edges, so concentrate more on sharpness and length than thinness and remember: as you're using a kunai to model your wind chakra blades, you're really forming two sharp edges, one on either side."

Naruto nodded, trying to hold all of these points in mind at once. _Shujin, did you get all of that?_

Yep. Don't worry; I'll remind you if you forget something, the fox's voice reassured him.

Naruto nodded absently, forgetting that Shujin wouldn't be able to tell he was nodding unless he was seeing through Naruto's eyes at that moment. Naruto was watching Asuma closely as the Jounin was now demonstrating his own chakra blades with the heavy trench knives he had shown Naruto before. Naruto couldn't exactly _see_ the curved wind chakra blades in the way he could see solid objects; it was more like a combination of noticing disturbances in the air and sensing the paths through the air that were being manipulated and used. It was not a thing he knew that he would be able to describe easily, but he was almost certain he could recreate how it was being achieved.

"Can you always tell exactly where the boundaries of your blades are?" Naruto asked.

Asuma seemed to understand what he meant. "Yes. It's constructed of my chakra, so it's almost as easy for me to sense my blades as it would be for me to see the trench knives which are all that everyone else sees."

From the way he says it, it sounds as if wind chakra blades give you another advantage, Shujin commented, obviously fascinated.

_What's that?_

Well, if only you can see your blades, then an enemy could easily be taken unawares and cut-perhaps even fatally- while under the impression that your slash had missed them completely. If an enemy cannot see you blade, they won't know to dodge.

_That certainly sounds useful._

"So you don't have to concentrate to maintain them?" Naruto asked, referring to the wind chakra blades that Asuma still had activated.

"Well, not very much, but I've been doing this for so long it's second nature to me. You will have to concentrate much more until you have enough experience to activate them quickly and keep them active without too much effort." Asuma retracted the blades and slipped his hands out of the grips of his trench knives. "Perhaps you should get to work. Use a normal kunai to practice if you can because unless you specifically get new equipment for this technique, you'll probably mostly be using kunai for it."

Naruto hefted the kunai in his hand. "Is it possible to fight with wind chakra blades without using a knife or any other kind of base or model?"

Asuma shot Naruto a curious look. "Technically it's possible, after all, what you're describing sounds similar to the idea of chakra scalpels, which are used as a medical jutsu, but independent wind chakra blades would take an ungodly amount of chakra control as well as quite large chakra reserves in order to practice and refine the technique. However, if you could eventually make that work, it would be incredibly useful, particularly if you are able to form the blades on other parts of your body in addition to your hands. Keep in mind, though, that when you first start practicing just then normal type of wind chakra blades, the type based off of an existing weapon, the wind chakra blades you make will start out very short until your chakra control and experience improves them and lets you form longer, more complicated extensions."

Asuma stood over Naruto for a while, ensuring that the blonde boy got the gist of the exercise and was making sufficient headway. Naruto soon got the idea, having seen Asuma execute the jutsu firsthand and having the benefit of both Asuma's and Shujin's pointers and suggestions. Finally, Asuma left to allow Naruto to practice more on his own. It wasn't more than three or four hours before Naruto, who was a quick study, could channel wind chakra through the kunai, though the result was rather crude and clumsy, not at all what Naruto knew it could be. However, Naruto decided not to spend more time on it that day, instead delegating the task to a fresh contingency of shadow clones. He could pick up personal experimentation with this jutsu whenever he wanted, but for now, he could afford to take a break. In fact, he could take a break for as long as he wanted and still gain experience in practicing the jutsu.

* * *

"Hey, Hinata-chan." Naruto was sitting reading with the Hyuuga clan heiress outside once again. "How soon are the Chunin exams?"

Hinata raised her eyes from her own book. She and Naruto were keeping each other company as they read, but they were reading separate books. Every once in a while she would still have to define a complicated word or concept for Naruto, but for the most part, they had been reading in silence. From the wide range of words that Naruto had asked her to define, she was quite curious as to what kind of book he was reading. "I'm not sure the exact date this year, but I know it's coming in no more than a couple of weeks," she said slowly.

"Are you going to enter?" Hinata had known that the question would come up eventually, and still wasn't sure she knew the answer.

"I don't know, Naruto-kun. I would be competing against genin from all over the Elemental Nations. Who knows, I might even end up pitted against you. I just think it might be better if I waited until the next time around, when I'm better prepared."

"But even if you enter and end up being defeated, it's not the end of the world, right? You can always try again. I think I've proved that, using myself as an example," Naruto said, tapping his forehead protector. "In any case, it's not like you don't _deserve_ to be a Chunin. I know better than anyone that you've been working harder than all of the rest of us to get stronger ever since you earned your headband." Hinata turned faintly pink but she couldn't help smiling at the praise. Naruto continued, "When you fight during training, you don't even activate your doujutsu, which means that nobody really knows exactly how strong you are, and you still end up winning most of the time."

"But that's because I know the abilities and limitations of all of you guys! If I fought in the Chunin exams, I'd be up against people I know nothing about!" Hinata protested.

Naruto shook his head impatiently. "That doesn't matter. You understand better than most the way different types of people think in general, and that's important in a shinobi. You're adaptable and flexible and I believe that once you really start to believe in your own abilities, nothing anyone says will be able to get to you ever again. You'll only be able to work past your limitations if _you_ think it's possible. But until the day comes when you accept who you are and what you're capable of, I want you to know that _I _believe in you. Hell, if it weren't for the fact that I'm older than you, that I have the Kyuubi's regeneration powers, that I was born with stupidly huge chakra reserves- what I'm saying is, if the playing fields were level, I have no doubt you could take me on. If you enter the Chunin exams and you and I end up having to fight, so be it. I promise I won't hold back as long as you do the same. Then we would really see what you're made of."

Hinata could feel her face heating up. Never had anyone tried to defend her from herself like that! Never had someone been so adamant in their insistence that she was strong. The open book slid from her lap as she leaned over and pulled Naruto close in an embrace.

He let himself be pulled in and held Hinata tightly for a minute before gently pulling away. He felt her tense in his arms, obviously afraid she had overstepped some boundary, but Naruto had only pulled away enough to look straight into her eyes, pale lavender and full of old insecurities, but at the same time blazing with determination. Naruto knew he had said all the right things and did the only thing that made sense. He kissed her.

Time passed. Naruto wasn't aware of breaking apart from Hinata, but the next thing he knew, the sun was setting and the last few tendrils of warm sunlight were giving way to the cool of evening. His arm was wrapped around Hinata's shoulders and she was snuggled down next to him, her head resting on his chest. Naruto hated to break the sleepy silence, but he knew that it wouldn't be long before a Hyuuga clan member was sent to look for Hinata. When he mentioned this, Hinata barely stirred, growling, "Let them look."

* * *

Jaitan had gathered Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi. As he faced them, one of his bodies spoke quite calmly to them while the other paced in an imitation of a nervous commanding officer before his troops the night before a planned attack, not making eye contact and not speaking.

"As you know, the Chunin exams will be taking place in just under three weeks. I have already informed the Hokage that I recommend all of the students on all three of your teams to participate in the Chunin exams, but the ultimate recommendations are your decisions."

"And then, of course, the final say is up to the genin themselves as to whether or not to submit the forms and take part in the exams," the nervously pacing Jaitan said, wheeling about to pace back the way he came.

"Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm going to recommend my team," Kakashi said, carelessly turning a page of the tiny book he was holding.

Kurenai and Asuma exchanged looks. "We're planning on doing the same, actually," Kurenai said. "I'm quite interested to see just _exactly_ how far the members of my team have progressed."

"The same goes for me and my team," Asuma said. "I'm particularly interested in Shikamaru Nara. I've taken to playing go and shogi with him. There's no competition; he beats me hands down every time, no matter the game. That kid is a brilliant strategist and could have made Chunin a long time ago if he had any inclination or drive." Asuma brought out his lighter, applying it to the yet-unlit end of his cigarette. He breathed deeply before blowing out a cloud of smoke. "The other one I'm really interested in is your kid, Kakashi. That Naruto Uzumaki. When I explained to him how wind chakra blades are formed, he immediately came up with an advanced idea that went a step beyond what I had told him. The kid seems to have an instinctive grasp of jutsu involving wind chakra. He's another who could go far."

Kurenai nodded slowly. "All that remains is to tell the Hokage and hope that all of our students take up the challenge and decide to participate."

* * *

Naruto was explaining something to Sasuke as they walked; slightly behind them, Sakura lectured Oscar on something she was reading about, the latter of which couldn't resist adding his own comments every once in a while.

Suddenly, Naruto threw out an arm, bringing Sasuke up short. The slightly taller boy looked at Naruto in part annoyance, part confusion. "What is it?"

Naruto jerked his head toward a side street they had been about to pass, a pleased smile stretching his whiskered face. "Look, Sasuke, a fangirl!" The Uchiha, who was pale by nature, turned positively ghostly and dived behind Naruto.

"Where?" he hissed. Naruto pointed and Sasuke looked. Naruto was indicating two people who were standing in the middle of the wide, shady road that branched off of the one team seven had been walking along. The boy on the right was dressed all over in black, while the blonde girl on the left… "Naruto, that's not what 'fangirl' means and you know it!" Sasuke said, annoyed.

Sakura and Oscar, who had had to stop walking when Sasuke and Naruto did, spotted the people down the side street as well. Oscar's face split into a wide grin. "Excellent! New people!" he said. Before any of the other members of team seven could stop him, the dark boy had darted forward to examine the new people. Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke followed, afraid that Oscar would get himself into trouble.

When they caught up with him, Oscar was standing silently in front of the black-clad boy, staring solemnly and unabashedly at him like a child half his age. As his team approached, Oscar began to circle the boy he had been looking at. Oscar stopped directly behind the boy to examine him once again. The boy, who had broken off his conversation with the girl beside him when Oscar had approached, shot an annoyed look at Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. "He with you?" the black-clad boy asked angrily, indicating Oscar with one thumb.

Before the members of teams seven could either confirm or deny this, Oscar spoke. He was poking at a large parcel strapped to the black-clad boy's back. It was completely swathed in bandages so that nothing of it was visible save for a small tuft of brown hair at the top. "Mister," Oscar said in a perfectly serious voice, "I think maybe your friend is dead."

The black-clad boy turned to glare at Oscar. "Don't touch my puppet!"

The blonde girl beside the self-proclaimed puppet-user rolled her eyes. "Geez, Kankuro, just tell everyone in Konoha what style you use, why don't you?"

"He started it, Temari," Kankuro half-growled, half-whined.

Oscar laughed, his shout of mirth escalating and rising in pitch and tempo until it was downright maniacal. Naruto couldn't help joining in.

"Are those your teammates?" Temari asked Sakura pityingly.

"Yep."

"What, both of them?"

"All three," Sakura corrected, indicating Sasuke who was shaking his head with one hand on his hip and the other covering his eyes. Temari cast Sasuke an interested glance. "What about you, is your friend on your team?" Sakura asked, pretending not to see Kankuro, Oscar and Naruto's scuffle.

"Not just on my team, he's my brother, too," Temari said.

"You're from Suna, I'd guess from your hitai-ates. Are you here for the Chunin exam?"

"Yep," Temari said, showing Sakura her pass.

"Where's the third member of your team?" Sakura asked, glancing around automatically.

"Gaara? He's probably around somewhere. He mostly goes where he wants to," Temari said.

Just then, a shout from the struggling boys caught the attention of Sasuke and the two girls. Kankuro had one forearm wrapped around Oscar's throat.

"I'll kill you, you little brat!" Kankuro yelled as he tightened his grip on Oscar's throat.

Oscar narrowed his eyes, air whistling slightly as he drew breath. "I bet I could take you, puppet or no," he hissed. Sasuke could see Oscar's muscles tensing and knew the dark boy was about to use a move that was practically guaranteed to free him from Kankuro's grip. Sasuke knew Oscar could do it, having been on the receiving end of that move more than once, but it would undoubtedly enrage Kankuro further. "Oscar," Sasuke said warningly. When this had no effect, the Uchiha picked up a stone and slung it at Kankuro. It hit the black-clad boy over the wrist, hard, forcing him to loosen his grip and letting Oscar pull free.

Kankuro rubbed his wrist, glaring at Sasuke. "You're next, show-off," Kankuro said, pulling his mummified puppet free of its harness.

Without warning, a voice spoke from the vicinity of one of the nearby trees. "Stop, Kankuro. Do not allow yourself to be wound up." All of the shinobi looked up to see a boy in the tree, his feet stuck to the underside of a branch and his arms crossed. His hair was short and bright red and his curiously pale eyes were black-ringed. On his back he sported a large, sand-colored gourd. Without warning, without so much as changing his stance, he began to spin. He vanished and reappeared between Temari and Kankuro in a swirl of sand. It was only when he was on the ground that the Konoha genin noticed the kanji inscribed on the left side of his forehead. The kanji for 'love.'

His face was inscrutable, but his teammates stammered apologies to him that didn't make any sense to the genin from Konoha. It was almost as though they were afraid of their teammate. The red-haired boy cut across his teammates' words. He addressed himself to Sasuke. "I apologize to you guys."

Sasuke, startled that the foreign shinobi should single him out like he was the leader of team seven, asked the first thing that came to mind. "What's your name?"

"Gaara of the Desert," he said after only a brief hesitation. "And you?"

"Sasuke Uchiha." Gaara studied Sasuke, his gaze flickering back and forth between Sasuke's eyes. Something of them seemed to meet with his approval because he nodded before turning to leave.

"What about the rest of our names?" Oscar demanded savagely. Everyone turned to look at him in surprise. Apparently he was still looking for a fight. He was standing with his feet planted slightly apart, one placed ahead of the other. His spine was curved forward and his hands were clenched into fists. His narrowed eyes met Gaara's impassive ones with a look of aggressive defiance.

After a moment, Gaara said, "Okay," much to visible the surprise of his teammates.

Oscar came out of his fighter's crouch to stand upright, feet apart, arms crossed, and face perfectly blank in a flawless imitation to the way Gaara had been standing a moment before. The immediate threat was gone but the challenge remained. "I'm Oscar Junomaru," he said, before relaxing his stance and allowing a truly creepy grin to stretch his face from ear to ear and widening his eyes until they were round and mad. "Or you could call me 'that freak Junomaru kid.'" Gaara seemed to consider this, looking Oscar over once more, his gaze finally resting on Oscar's eyes before his pale eyes flickering over to Sakura's face.

"Sakura Haruno," she said, clearly not wanting to give away any more information about herself and just as clearly wanting him to move on to someone else. It seemed as though Gaara could tell how she was feeling, as his eyes lingered mockingly on her face. She frowned and crossed her arms.

Finally, Gaara's pale gaze arrived at Naruto. "And you?" he asked coldly.

"Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto said, his voice neutral. Then, unable to resist following Oscar's example, he added, "The demon brat of Konoha." He suppressed a wince, knowing that his voice had turned audibly bitter. To his surprise, Gaara took the longest time yet to study Naruto. The blonde-haired boy was not at all sure if he appreciated the intensity with which Gaara stared at him. Finally, after what seemed like an age, Gaara turned to go, his team following in his wake without his even having to beckon.

Once they were out of sight and out of earshot, Sakura rounded on Oscar. "Why did you do that?"

Oscar was looking thoughtfully after the Suna genin. "I was testing him," he said absently.

"What did you find out?" Naruto and Sasuke demanded in unison.

Oscar frowned and shook his head slowly. "Nothing good."

"What specifically?" Sasuke asked.

"He appreciates power… and pain. He considers his teammates to be a liability and he arrogantly believes that none of us could hope to defeat him in a fight. He also hopes to fight at least Naruto and you, Sasuke, though he probably will want to fight me, too."

"And do _you_ want to fight _him_?" Naruto asked.

Oscar looked at him incredulously. "Are you kidding? That guy is way out of my league. The one I want to fight is the puppet-user. He has skill but it might just be possible for me to take him."

"How do you figure?" Sakura asked skeptically.

"People who hang around people so powerful that they're frightened of them often forget that there are other people who might be strong enough to defeat them," Oscar said.

Naruto stopped paying attention as Oscar and Sakura began talking about Oscar's analysis and the various implications that he was getting at.

That boy… Shujin murmured.

_What about him?_ Naruto asked.

I can't place it… I don't even know what it is about him, but he seems familiar somehow. Shujin sounded frustrated. It'll come to me eventually.

_ Hopefully sooner rather than later,_ Naruto thought dryly.

* * *

Sakura yawned, barely troubling to put up a hand to disguise it. "What do you think Kakashi-sensei wants?" she asked.

"He's going to give us a promotion and a week off," Sasuke said sarcastically.

"Really?" Naruto asked.

"Of course," Sasuke said, deadpanning. Sasuke was in one of those moods where he was so tired he was sharper and more sarcastic than he ever was when he was fully awake.

"We should have known when sensei asked us to meet him at the crack of dawn he would assume we would turn up three hours later, at the same time as him," Sakura said.

"Well, as he asked us to meet him so much earlier than he usually does, I just assumed he would be here on time," Naruto said. "I wonder where he is."

"Probably in bed, where any sensible ninja would be at this hour," Sasuke snapped.

Naruto glared at Sasuke, who glared right back. After a minute, Sakura stood up. "Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm going home. I'll be back in three hours," So saying, she left.

"That girl has the right idea," Sasuke said, getting up.

Naruto followed suit. "No, Oscar had the right idea. I think he attached ninja wire to his doorknob and stretched it across the room so that he could hold it without getting out of bed."

Sasuke frowned, actually distracted from the prospect of getting back to bed. "Why did he do that?"

"So that he could charge the doorknob with lightning chakra when I tried to open his door and wake him up early," Naruto said ruefully.

Sasuke chuckled. "That's brilliant! You realize he had to have set that up last night, right?"

"Yeah, I got that," Naruto growled. "See if I wake _him_ up in three hours. A simple 'Do not disturb' sign would have served the same purpose."

Sasuke shrugged. "Not his style. Anyway, see you."

"Yeah, see you," Naruto said. The two parted ways.

Three hours later, Kakashi walked into the clearing, poised to launch into one his famous excuses. However, the sight of only one member of his genin team, rather than the four he had been expecting gave him pause. "Oscar? Where are the others?"

The dark boy shrugged. "Haven't the foggiest."

"Here we are!" came a shout. Kakashi turned to see the three missing members of team seven running up. Once they were under the cover of the trees they stopped, panting.

"Where were you?" Oscar asked Naruto, who treated him to the evil eye.

"Well, now that you're all here, if I could have your attention," Kakashi said pleasantly. When he had it, he took out four slips of paper. "As you know, the Chunin exams begin in under two weeks. I have recommended to the Hokage that you take the exam and I recommend to you the same thing. These are your applications. If you decide to take my advice and go through with the exam, sign the form and turn it in to room 301 at four pm on the first day of the exam. The date is on the form."

Naruto looked at the paper in his hands. _Only a few days away, really._

You going to go for it? Shujin asked.

Naruto smiled. _What do you think?_

* * *

A/N: I love being on break. This was actually an unusual chapter. It was just a bunch of scenes, each one equally important to the plot and to the set up before the Chunin exams are due to start. So- just a couple of things.

-Shujin only sees what Naruto sees when he consciously chooses to

-I hope you enjoyed the _two_ NaruHina scenes in here (they were actually pertinent to the events taking place in the next few chapters)

-Just a reminder- I am going to take up a challenge and be writing that fic at the same as this one.

-Next chapter: The Chunin Exams Begin! (Finally)

-Review please, particularly those of you who have, as of now, read all twenty chapters of this.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter XXI

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: Just hang in there, guys. This chapter starts out a bit slow, but it gets infinitely better. Trust in the AI, for she has the Log's ear… in a jar… on the mantelpiece…

* * *

_There's the room,_ Naruto thought.

301? So soon? But you only went up one flight of stairs, Shujin pointed out. Naruto ignored him. If it said 301 on the sign, he was going into that room. Just then, he noticed a disturbance outside of the door. He, along with the other members of his team, pushed through the crowd to see what was happening. A boy sat on the floor, having just been pushed down by the two older genin guarding the door. They were sneering as the boy wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.

"No way. If you can't so much as get past us, you have no place in the Chunin exams," The boy on the left said roughly.

"Yeah, we've failed the test three times in a row. This is for your own good. We're just taking out the ones who won't make it, anyway," The boy on the right said, folding his arms.

While Naruto stepped forward, fists clenched with fury, Sakura hung back, quickly spotting Ino in the queue and drawing her aside. Like her, Ino was frowning at the sign above the door. "What's with the genjutsu?" Ino asked.

Sakura had noticed something wrong with the sign as well, but had not quite known what it was. "I'm not sure," she admitted. She watched as a girl with her hair done up in two buns stepped forward to defend her friend and was knocked to the floor. "What those two are doing is wrong," Sakura said.

Ino nodded. "In more ways than one," she agreed.

Meanwhile, Naruto, who had made his way to the front of the crowd, faced the two boys who were guarding the door. He did not look at those two genin whom the boys had knocked to the floor. "We all know the risks of this test, and those who don't will soon find out," Naruto growled. "It's not your place to add to our challenges. Everyone here has proven himself or herself one way or another."

Sasuke, who had forced his way through the crowd after his blonde teammate, put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, though his touch was a gesture of support rather than restraint. He activated his Sharingan, hoping by that demonstration to show the two boys who they would have to deal with if they picked a fight with Naruto. However, as soon as the tomoe settled into place in his red irises, Sasuke gave a tight smile. "It's okay, Naruto." To the boys, he said, "By all means, keep up your vigil on this door. I'm sure the sensei it belongs to will thank you. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be taking my team and these people up to the third floor and the _real_ room 301."

The boys exchanged a look before the number above the door behind them rippled and blurred, the numbers distorting until they settled down, forming the number 201. The boy on the left smirked. "Impressive. You saw through our genjutsu. But you'll need more than that before we let you move on." Without warning, the boy crouched and his leg shot up, aiming a high kick at Sasuke.

He had reckoned without one thing, however: Sasuke's still-activated Sharingan. Almost before the other boy had begun to move, Sasuke released Naruto's shoulder, accidentally shoving him away and throwing off his balance. Sasuke ducked under the kick and his hand snaked out to jab the boy in the chest and push him backwards. Before he could complete the move, however, there was a blur of green right in front of Sasuke's face. A split-second later he found his wrist and his aggressor's foot held in a surprisingly strong grip.

The boy who had first been knocked to the floor by Sasuke's aggressor had managed to insert himself between the two combatants and stop their movements dead before they could reach each other. Sasuke was surprised, but he recovered quickly, shaking the boy's hand loose and stepping back. The green-clad genin released the other boy's foot rather harder than necessary.

Another boy pushed his way through to the open space in the crowd. He had pale eyes and two straps hung down from his hitai-ate. "What happened to not showing off?" He asked the green-clad boy. The latter bowed his head in submission. The boy with pale eyes sighed in exasperation before turning to Sasuke. It was only then that the Uchiha thought to deactivate his Sharingan.

"What's your name?" The pale-eyed boy asked.

Sasuke threw up his hands in disgust. "It seems like everyone wants to know that lately. I don't know you, so why should I tell you my name?" The pale-eyed boy shot him a look of scornful derision before he pushed past Sasuke to get to the stairs that led to the next floor.

Sakura dived forward. "Come on," She said, grabbing Sasuke and Naruto's hands and pulling them toward the stairs. Oscar hastily followed, having finally extricated himself from the crowd. When they had gained the foot of the stairs, there came a shout from above them.

"Hey! You with the name!" Sasuke looked up, confused and annoyed. In an instant, someone had vaulted over the edge of the balcony from the floor above. It was the green-clad genin who had stopped Sasuke's attack. As he got to his feet, the members of team seven surveyed him. His black hair was shaped into a smooth bowl-cut which did not hide his thick eyebrows. He was wearing orange legwarmers and there were long strips of bandage wound around his hands. "I am Rock Lee," he said solemnly. "Now you know my name. What's yours?"

Sasuke looked at this challenger critically, though, for just a moment, a spasm of scared recognition flitted across his face, not noticing Naruto stirring beside him. "Sasuke Uchiha," the dark-haired boy said reluctantly.

Lee raised a stiff hand in front of him, palm-in, to chin-height, the other hand curled into a fist and pressed to his lower back. "Fight me, Sasuke Uchiha." Out of his line of sight, Sasuke could hear the agitated whispers of Naruto and Oscar. He felt a warning touch on his arm, though from whom, he could not tell.

Sasuke stuffed his hands into his pockets, considering, weighing his options. "No thanks," he said eventually. He registered the whispers of his teammates cut off abruptly as they fell into a shocked silence.

Lee tilted his head curiously. "Why?"

"Because if I beat you in a fair fight, I want to do in in the presence of the judges of this exam so I get credit. Also, just in case I lose… well, that would be really embarrassing. I wouldn't want to lose right in front of my team."

Lee frowned, his eyes betraying his warring emotions. "No," he suddenly snapped. Without another word, he dashed forward, drawing his fist back. Sasuke only had time to fall back a step before there was a flash of metal and a thump and Lee jerked to a stop. Everyone's heads automatically turned to the stairs, seeing the bun-haired girl and pale-eyed boy from before. The girl held another shuriken at the ready. It was then that the members of team seven saw what had stopped Lee. The bandages that swaddled his right hand had come unraveled and the end was pinned to the floor by a shuriken.

"Lee," the bun-haired girl said sternly, "The boy said no."

Lee made a slight bow in the direction of his teammates. "My apologies, Tenten, Neji. That was most unyouthful of me." Lee bent and tugged the shuriken that held him immobilized out of the floor. With a toss, he sent it spinning back at Tenten, who deftly caught it and carefully stowed it away. Lee then turned and inclined his smooth head to Sasuke. "I apologize to you, too, Sasuke Uchiha. I have acted wrongly."

Tenten and the boy with pale eyes, Neji, descended to the level of the other genin. Their eyes passed over the rookies without recognition or even interest. After several long moments of silence, Naruto stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Hey, guys," he said.

The members of team Gai surveyed him coolly. "Who exactly are you?" Neji asked.

"Naruto." They looked at him with uncomprehending, with And-That-Means-What-To-Me? looks on their faces. "You know, Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto said desperately. When they still did not seem to understand, he sighed. Then he screamed, "I will become Hokage one day!"

"Oh!" Lee and Tenten said, while Neji just looked scornful.

"Naruto!" Lee said. "You've changed!"

"So have you," Naruto said, eyeing Lee's attire.

"Hang on," Oscar said, "Am I missing something? Do you know these kids, Naruto?"

"In a manner of speaking," Neji said stiffly. To the Hyuuga boy's surprise, Naruto gave him a dirty look. Naruto and he had never seen eye-to-eye when they had been in the same class in the academy, but Naruto had never been downright unpleasant to him before.

"Yeah, I didn't know them very well, but we were all in Iruka's class together the year before I graduated. Tenten, Lee, these are Sasuke, Oscar, and Sakura, my teammates."

"A four-man team?" Neji asked. Naruto did not deign to respond.

"So, you think you're ready to be a chunin already, Naruto?" Tenten asked. "Rookies hardly ever pass, you know."

"We're not just any rookies," Naruto said grinning.

"Oh yeah? What makes you so special?" Neji asked. Naruto ignored him again, but it didn't matter as Lee answered for him anyway.

"The flames of their youth make them strong!" He declared. The members of Kakashi's team could not help but notice Tenten and Neji's resigned looks at that.

Oscar, however, got a gleam in his eye. To Lee he exclaimed, "Oh! You're a pyromani-" With the ease of long practice, Sasuke and Sakura each slapped a hand over Oscar's mouth. He struggled for a moment before good-naturedly accepting defeat.

Sakura glanced at a clock hanging on the wall. "We have ten minutes left to get to this meeting we're supposed to be attending. Shall we?"

Team Gai had gone on ahead as team seven had dawdled, so they were already inside the room by the time Naruto, Sakura, Oscar, and Sasuke reached the door to the _real_ room 301. Naruto pushed open the door and then stood, paralyzed by what he saw. Sakura and Sasuke craned over his shoulders to see beyond the doorway and Oscar ducked under his arm. It was an amazing sight. Nearly three hundred genin were crowded into the enormous lecture. They varied in ages and descriptions almost as much as they varied in origin, sporting hitai-ates from all over the Elemental Nations.

Finally, Sakura gave Naruto a dig in the back and the four of them moved into the room, allowing the door to swing closed behind Sasuke, who was last.

"Hey," Naruto said brightly, looking around, "Who knows, this could be fun!"

"Or deadly," Sakura muttered.

"Or both!" Oscar said, thoughtfully.

"Hey, you rookies," came an unfamiliar voice. A tall, pony-tailed boy stood before them. His mid-length hair was silver and he wore round glasses and a hitai-ate with the familiar leaf symbol of Konoha.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked.

"Kabuto Yakushi, but that doesn't make a difference at the moment. Turn around. See those guys behind you?" The rookie genin turned to see several nasty-looking genin, each with four vertical lines on their hitai-ates and all with aggressive expressions. "Those genin are from Amegakure. They, along with everyone else here, are a little tense, what with the imminent threat of dishonor or death, so you may want to keep your voices down a bit. It wouldn't take much to set them off."

"What about you?" Sasuke asked. "You seem pretty composed."

"I'm not a rookie like you guys, am I?" Kabuto smirked.

"Oh yeah?" Oscar said, "Just how many times have you taken this test already? Twice? Three times?"

"Six times," Kabuto said, without a hint of embarrassment or shame. "This test is held biannually, so this is my fourth year."

"So you already know a lot about the people here?" Sasuke queried.

"Some of them, although I don't know anything about those ninjas from Otogakure." Kabuto pointed out a passing team of genin, each of whom wore a hitai-ate bearing a simple musical note. "They're new. I hadn't even heard of that village of theirs until today."

Naruto had been watching the sound-nin in question. As Kabuto spoke, Naruto saw them stiffen and stop in their tracks. The one in the middle, who wore bandages wound all around his head, was turning his face from one of his teammates to the other as though conversing, though Naruto could not make out the words. "Hey, Kabuto, I think they heard you," he said. Almost before he finished speaking, the sound-nin seemed to reach some decision. The one in the middle nodded and the one on the left turned, leaping high into the air and whipping several kunai down at where Kabuto was standing. The silver-haired boy dodged back so that the kunai fell short. Practically before he had stopped moving, the boy with bandages all around is head dashed up to him and, while Kabuto was still off-balance from his slide, threw a punch at him. To the admiration to the rookie genin watching, Kabuto was able to lean back in time and avoid the blow completely. He stood up straight again, a satisfied smirk playing around his lips.

Then, suddenly, the lenses of his round glasses shattered. Puzzled, Kabuto raised a hand to remove the frames, but his hand suddenly froze in mid-motion, a look of shock on his face. A thin trickle of blood dripped steadily from his nose. He had just time to exchange baffled looks with the rookie genin before he fell to his hands and knees and retched, vomiting with a sickening noise.

"Whoa," Oscar said, "That guy from Oto didn't even touch him. Cool."

"Don't get any ideas, Oscar. I bet he used a special technique," Sasuke said, sweatdropping at Oscar's look of disappointment.

"Aw," he whined, "I want to be able to make people throw up."

"You already do," Sasuke muttered, eliciting an unintentional giggle from Sakura.

Just then a booming voice filled the hall, silencing all of the chatting genin. "Shut up and listen, you pathetic brats!" There was a loud 'poof' and the front of the hall was suddenly wreathed in the smoke of a mass Shunshin. The smoke quickly thinned and vanished, revealing an entire group of Konoha shinobi, each one dressed in the uniform of an exam proctor. The man who was standing ahead of all of the others, the one with the painful-looking scar ridges across his face and the black trench coat over his uniform, spoke. "Thanks for coming. I am Ibiki Morino. If you want to pass this first test, you're going to have to impress me as well as my fellow examiners. No fighting until we give you the go ahead, and even then, no killing. That means you, guys from Otogakure. You pull a stunt like the one you just did, and you'll automatically fail and be disqualified."

The genin from Hidden Sound growled their apologies. Ibiki continued, "Alright, you've all sweated enough, so let's get right into it. Come up here and collect one of these numbered tiles. You will sit in the seat that corresponds to the number you receive. There will be no switching seats, boys and girls. You aren't academy students anymore. When you've all been seated, we'll give you the tests." Ibiki held up a thick sheaf of papers.

Naruto stared at the papers in disbelief; and he wasn't the only one. _You're kidding me. We're taking a _written_ test?_

So it appears, Shujin said disapprovingly. I must say, it seems an odd concept.

_I'm with you there, buddy,_ Naruto thought grimly, going up to receive a tile printed with the number fifty-three. He took his seat, carefully matching up the number tag on the desk and the number on his tile. One row in front of him and two seats over, he saw Oscar take a seat. _Cool, they seated us really close._ Just then someone edged past behind him and sat down in seat fifty-four, right next to him. He turned to look at who it was, just in case it was someone else he knew. "Hinata!"

She smiled at his obvious delight. "Hello, Naruto-kun."

"This is cool!" Naruto said, but before he could expand on that statement, Ibiki called for silence from the front of the room, getting everyone's attention by grabbing a new piece of chalk and setting it to the board at the front of the room and slowly dragging it down the board so that is squeaked and screeched.

"Listen up, brats. Before you turn over your tests and start, I need to go over the rules of this test." There was a ripple of surprise. "What, you children didn't think this was going to be easy, did you? Of course there are rules! Now shut up, because I'm only saying this once and there will be no questions. First of all, this test has a point system, regulated by myself and the other proctors. You each start out with ten points. The test consists of ten questions. For every question you get wrong or leave blank, you lose one point. If we catch any of you little bastards cheating, you lose two points. Another thing- this is a team test, even though you take the actual tests individually. At the end, the scores of all of your teammates will be added together and the sum of them will be what determines if you move on, or are dropped out." There was an outpouring of outrage and disbelief at this. Ibiki turned to the Chunin closest to him in said in a voice that was not seemingly excessively loud, but that everyone in the room heard perfectly, "I guess all of us proctors can go home. No one's passing this year." Everyone quieted immediately to hear what the scarred man had to say. "Just one last thing." Ibiki looked around slowly, lazily, making eye contact with the genin watching him. "If any of you should lose all of your points, not only will you be kicked out, but so will your team and all of you will fail. Better luck next time. You have one hour. You may… begin!"

Naruto flipped over his paper and wrote his name on it. He turned his eyes to the questions. _Question number one…_ Naruto read the question through. Once. Twice. Three times. Each time it seemed to make less and less sense to him. _Okay, skip that and come back to it._ Naruto scanned the second question, but it made no more sense to him than the first. He could feel a cold sweat beginning to prickle on his scalp and the back of his neck. His eyes skimmed over the other questions, his dismay deepening with every word his bemused and beleaguered mind registered. _Shit! I don't even understand this, let alone know the answers!_

What's wrong? Whispered a voice in Naruto's head. Naruto's eyes widened slightly in surprise. Of course! Shujin! How could he have forgotten the fox-boy, tucked away in a corner of his mindscape?

_What's wrong is that I don't get this test at all!_

Why don't you cheat off of someone?

_Weren't you listening? If I'm caught cheating, I'll lose two points!_

Only if you're caught…

_Shujin! I'm not cheating off of someone else!_

Fine, fine, whatever. There was a considering sort of pause. Let me take a look, at least, Shujin thought. Naruto couldn't feel what Shujin was doing, but he assumed he was taking a look through Naruto's eyes. The blonde boy made haste to drop his gaze to the paper. After a minute or so, Shujin began to mumble. Hm. Interesting. What if- no wait, I forgot humans have no tails. Well what if… nah, the judges would never go for that. Hang on, what's that question? Uh, nope. Don't know that one. That one, either. I don't even know what that one's asking. These seem awfully advanced…

Finally, after almost ten minutes, Naruto risked asking, _Well, can you help me?_

Perhaps. Can you take a closer look at that last question? Naruto stared at question ten. 'This question will be revealed forty-five minutes after the test begins. Listen to the examiner closely before answering.' Hey! I think I know that answer to that one! Shujin said excitedly.

_It's not even asking anything!_ Naruto stopped himself from screaming.

Oh. Shujin sounded disappointed.

Naruto smacked his forehead on the desk. _Ow. Okay, new idea. Get the mindscape to send you some reference material._ There was a stunned silence. _What?_

That's actually… a brilliant idea. Just hang on a few minutes. As Naruto waited, he closed his eyes so that the judges wouldn't think he was cheating, allowing his enhanced hearing to explore to large hall. He could here rustles and whispers and the scratching of pencils. Somewhere above and behind him, he could hear Kiba's voice whispering, 'Yosh! What's the next answer?'

After several minutes of internal silence, Naruto asked, _Shujin-kun?_

Yes?

_Do you have what you need?_

Wait a moment… yeah, here it is, Shujin said.

_What do you have?_ Naruto asked curiously, opening his eyes and picking up his pencil.

A copy of your academy textbook from Iruka's class, Shujin said.

_Great! Hurry and look up the answer to number one!_

All right, just a sec. Naruto heard the creak of a new book spine and the rustle of pages turning, then a pause. He almost jumped when a loud clap resonated through his head. Captain, we may have a problem.

_What is it?_

Didn't you ever read your textbook back in the academy?

_Well, no, not really, why?_

There's nothing in this copy. It's just nine hundred blank pages in a book cover.

_Shit! I guess my mindscape can't recreate information I've never seen before._ Naruto lowered his pencil. _What should I do?_

Just then, Hinata, who had been watching Naruto struggle from out of the corner of her eye, noticed that he hadn't written anything on his paper except for his name. _I can't just let him fail!_ She thought, _Not after he stuck up for me that time when we kissed…_

"Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered. She kept her eyes on her own paper but from her peripheral vision she saw his glance at her before dropping his eyes to his own paper.

"Yes, Hinata-chan?"

"You can cheat off of me."

Naruto's head twisted around in surprise, but a warning note from Shujin made him look away again. He caught the eye of one of the proctors at the front of the room. The man was tapping a pencil against the edge of the clipboard he was holding, and every now and then he would mark something down.

_What should I do?_

Do not mess this up! She wants you to cheat off of her. It would be a shame to disappoint her.

_But if I cheat, we'll get in trouble!_

No, Naruto, listen to me. Do not- but Naruto stopped paying attention to Shujin. Hinata drew a question mark on the side of her paper. Naruto sighed a bit. Whatever he said to Shujin, it _was_ a waste.

"No Hinata-chan. If I cheat, both of us will get kicked out. It's not worth it. I know you're smart enough to pass, and you're just going to have to trust me to get through this, too."

Hinata hesitated, then gave a tiny nod. _Good, now that's settled, what do I do?_

Cheat!

_Besides that!_

Well, the only other thing that has the remotest chance of working is if you just try to bluff your way through it. Make it all up. Use complicated terms. Restate the questions but add words so it looks like you wrote more than you did. Draw diagrams even if you're just showing exactly what the question already tells you. Use variables. Just be sure you have something down for every question.

_You know what_, Naruto thought dismally, _I'm just desperate enough that I'll do it. Here goes nothing._

Literally.

Naruto once again took pencil in hand, automatically glancing at the clock as he did so. A good twenty-five minutes had already passed. He got down to work.

Ten minutes later, Naruto was staring at question number nine. _I don't even know how to _begin_ to bullshit this answer, _he thought.

What will you do? Shujin asked. Naruto thought for a few moments, pencil poised. Finally, he put tip to paper and drew a smiley-face.

You're kidding, Shujin said.

_I'm telling you, it'll work!_

Uh, no, it won't, Shujin said.

_Then I guess we agree to disagree._

I'm sorry, but I don't think I can even agree to that after the sheer stupidity of what you just did. Are you even paying attention to me?

_No. I wonder what Oscar's doing._ On the pretext of lifting his paper up to check his answers, Naruto glanced down to where his teammate was seated. Just as he looked, Oscar turned his paper over. Face up. _He hasn't even started yet? No! Oscar! We need your ten points! Wait, what's he doing?_

I believe he is doodling in the boxes where the answers are supposed to go. Shujin sounded slightly stunned. Wow, someone who's actually worse at this than you are.

_This is bad… How long do I have until the tenth question? _He had ten minutes.

Look over your answers again, Shujin urged Naruto.

_It won't make any difference. What's done is done._ Naruto turned his paper face down. Beside him, Hinata did the same. When the lavender-eyed girl saw the gloom that had settled over Naruto, she instinctively put her arms around him. Without thinking, Naruto returned the gesture, and they sat there hugging and not speaking for a good minute or two. Eventually, there was a throat-clearing noise behind them. Naruto looked up to see Sasuke seated in the row behind, only a few seats down.

"What are you doing, dobe?" Sasuke hissed.

Naruto grinned. It was too good an opportunity to miss, particularly after the way everyone had been treating Sasuke as the leader of their team of late.

"Oh yeah," Naruto said, not troubling to keep his voice down, "I forgot that you're a virgin, Sasuke." Naruto rubbed Hinata's back, hoping she would forgive him for what he was about to say next. "Well, this kind of like foreplay. After we both pass this test, we're going to head back to her place-"

"No, _your_ place," Hinata insisted. From what Naruto could see of her, she was blushing furiously, but her expression was cool and collected, detached even, as if she had disconnected her emotions from the situation. Apparently she had decided to just go with it.

"Fine, we'll head back to _my_ place, where I will proceed to ravish her over and over until-"

"Okay," Sasuke said hastily, "I really don't want to know anymore."

The judges continued to make tick marks on their papers, occasionally asking someone to stand up, gather their team and leave. Sometimes the genin who they had called out would become violent, but mostly they would just leave, apologizing to their team.

Finally, forty-five minutes after the test had begun, Ibiki cleared his throat loudly. "Listen up, brats, it's time for the long-awaited tenth question." The scribbling of pencils and the rustling of paper all but stopped. "Now, before we tell you the actual question, I'd like to tell you the special rules for this last question. First and foremost, before you hear what the question is, you must decide whether or not to take it. If you choose not to, you will be failed and you, along with your teammates, must leave and try again in six months. However, pick wisely because if you choose to take it and answer wrongly, you will never be able to take this exam again. Not this year, not ever. You will remain a genin until you die."

There were outbursts all over, shouts of protest. Team members exchanged agonized looks. Hinata and Naruto broke apart as Hinata looked for her teammates. Naruto felt a sinking sensation of impending doom. Of course he would take the question. Of course he would get it wrong. His team would fail and none of them, Sasuke, Oscar, Sakura, would ever progress beyond genin. And it would be his, Naruto's, fault. How would he become Hokage if he were still a genin?

Hinata put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and he covered it with one of his own. "We will now begin the tenth question," Ibiki announced. "All those wishing to leave now and try again next time, please stand up. Once we confirm you, take your team and get out of here." There was a worried silence. Finally it was broken as a boy stood, shaking, on the verge of tears. One of the examiners called out his number as well as his teammates' numbers and the three of them left, cursing and muttering to each other.

Slowly, one by one, genin began standing up all over the room. They were quickly dismissed from the hall along with their teams. Naruto noticed that each one of them wore a look of hopelessness and betrayal, as one condemned to death would look if his head was being put in the noose and he finally accepted that no one was coming to save him. They kept glancing back, searching in vain for another way, another option.

What about you? Shujin asked.

_I don't know! Help me!_ Naruto thought desperately.

Even if you take the chance and guess wrong, it won't change very much about you, Shujin pointed out.

_What do you mean?_ Naruto asked, not daring to see a glimmer of hope.

Whether you're acknowledged as a Chunin or not doesn't make a difference to how strong you can become.

_ But no one would ever make a genin Hokage!_

Why not? It's strength that matters, right? Not titles. Naruto watched another group allow themselves to be disqualified and leave. That look of hopelessness, shoulders hunched, eyes dull and head hanging really got to him. As if they were already dead. Take a risk. That's what separates shinobi like you from civilians.

Naruto banged his fist on the desk in frustration. He could tell he was leaking KI and made an effort to draw it back it. More than a few people were looking at Naruto. It took him a moment to identify the look in their faces. It was hope. They were waiting for him to say something, to make sense of a senseless situation. To comfort them.

Galvanized, Naruto jumped up. He placed his hands on the desk and leaned forward over it, glaring Ibiki straight in the eye from across the room. "You can't get rid of me that easily! I am strong enough to be a chunin whether you know it or not and I will always continue to get stronger, no matter what! I don't need a chunin vest to know that I'm a good shinobi! Shinobi take risks; that's what separates us from the civilians we fight to protect! No matter what decision you make today regarding my future, just know that you came in too late! My future is decided! I will become Hokage despite everything you throw at me!"

"You talk tough, but do you mean it? You might just be throwing away your career and your life." Ibiki spoke quietly, but he was clearly audible in the hush Naruto's words had created.

Naruto smirked, adjusting his hitai-ate. "I will never regret this decision and I will always act according to what I have said today. Because that is my ninja way."

After a moment in which his eyes flitted from face to face, a smile creased Ibiki's scarred face for the first time. "I see that this boy speaks for everyone. Very well. Now, to the twenty-six teams remaining in this room… you officially pass the first test. Congratulations." With satisfaction, Ibiki registered shock on every face.

"Wait," blurted a boy in the second row, raising his hand, "You mean there's no tenth question?"

"Oh, there was a tenth question; to stay or not to stay. And you all chose rightly."

"What about the first nine questions? What was the point?" a girl shouted.

"The point was to test if you could gather information without being caught and to do well because your team was depending on you. The test was purposely designed to be too difficult for genin to answer in order to encourage you to cheat. To that end, we planted a couple of Chunin among you guys who knew the answers. But those who were caught, who did not understand how to conceal their efforts, were failed."

Ibiki reached up and untied the bandana covering his head, pulling it off to reveal craters from screws, ridges, scars, burns in the mutilated flesh of his scalp. Beside him, Naruto felt Hinata clutch his arm in alarm. Gasps rippled through genin and, looking around, Naruto saw that several looked sick. "Information is power in the midst of war," Ibiki remarked, "And people will go to great lengths to attain it. The first part of the test was to disqualify those who did not have skills that are basic to a shinobi should any of you be captured." Ibiki slowly retied his bandana.

"Of course, the second part of the test was even more important. It tested your ability to make decisions, take risks and trust your teammates with your life. If you are ever offered a dangerous mission and you accept, could you die? Of course! You have to have faith in your abilities and the strengths of your teammates. You guys, who made it through both parts of this first test, have many of the qualities necessary to become a great shinobi. I'm proud of you."

Suddenly there was a huge smashing, shattering noise and a large _something_ came crashing through the large windows down one wall. Two shuriken, each attached to the corner of a large banner shot out, lodging in the ceiling. The banner unfurled, revealing the words 'You Have Arrived,' written in three-foot-high letters. In front of it stood a familiar, purple-haired woman wearing a long trench coat and not much else to speak of.

"Don't feel so smug, brats! You've only just begun! My name is Anko Mitarashi and you'll be answering to me for the next test!"

Naruto raised his hand and waved energetically. "Hi, Anko!"

"Naruto? You passed?" Anko looked nonplussed for a moment before rounding on Ibiki. "I told you this test was too damn easy! Ah well, makes it more interesting when I get to fail half of them. Yo! Brats! Meet me here tomorrow at two o'clock sharp! Should give you enough time to write your wills… dismissed!"

"I have to leave, Naruto-kun. Come and find me later," Hinata said. Before she could stand up, Naruto kissed her. They weren't touching save for that single point of contact. She closed her eyes, lingering for a moment before breaking the contact and standing up. "Congratulations," she said. Then she left, edging out of the row until she reached the aisle, where Kiba and Shino hailed her. Naruto watched her go.

Sasuke vaulted over the desk before him, landing heavily beside Naruto and flopping down onto the bench next to him. Sakura joined them, sidling down the row and taking Hinata's vacated seat. Naruto hopped up and sat on the desk with his feet resting on the bench so that he could see both of them at once, temporarily forgetting Oscar, still seated in the next row.

"So, how'd you guys cheat?" Naruto asked, a smile forming on his face.

"Used my sharingan to copy the movements of one guy's pencil," Sasuke said casually, "how about you, Sakura?"

"You know how the questions were supposed to be too hard for genin to know the answers?"

"Don't tell me," Sasuke said.

"Well, I didn't cheat…"

"You are such a nerd, Sakura," Naruto said.

"Oh yeah, what about you, dobe," Sakura shot back.

Naruto waved a hand airily. "Shujin helped me."

"What, the Kyuubi knew all of the answers?"

"Well, not exactly, but he helped me…"

"Hey Oscar! How about you? How did you get the answers?" Sasuke called down to where the dark boy sat, hunched over his paper.

Oscar looked up, a glazed and slightly disoriented look on his face. "What do you mean? Wait, where is everyone?" Oscar looked down at his test paper. "Damn! I'll need to ask for a new paper; I drew in all of the boxes!"

Sakura gave Oscar a funny look. "The test is over already."

"What? Oh geez, do you think they'll let me take it again?" Oscar asked.

"Why do you want to take it again? It's over; you passed."

"But I didn't write anything!"

"Doesn't make a difference."

Oscar tilted his head to one side in confusion. "Can you fill me in on what just happened?"

"As long as you can listen while we walk," Naruto said.

"Why, where are you going?" Sakura asked.

"I though maybe we could go to Ichiraku's to celebrate."

Sakura and Sasuke exchanged looks. "Who's paying? Not it."

"Not it."

"Not it.

"Not it- shit."

* * *

After team seven had finally left, Ibiki and Kotetsu Hagane, one of the Chunin proctors, went around collecting the tests. Ibiki paused when he reached seat number fifty-three and picked up the test paper there. _Naruto Uzumaki._ "Hey Kotetsu, look at this. You know that kid who made the speech during the tenth question? Well, this is his test."

Kotetsu, who was in the row in front of Ibiki, craned over the desk to take a look at Naruto's test. "None of those answers make any sense! He didn't really answer a single question. I wonder if anyone tried to copy off of him. Hey, what's that he wrote for question nine?"

Ibiki took back the paper. "I don't believe it. That kid's got nerve. He just drew a smiley face for question nine! I like this guy."

"Hey, you think that's something, you should see this one," Kotetsu said, holding out a paper he had just picked up. The back was entirely covered in little ninja stick figures, some in more classical poses, some in decidedly odd ones. One stick figure was playing a board game with another, who was cursing; one was encased in a fireball and was surrounded by little sparkles. One figure controlled a puppet while another seemed to be trying to possess the same puppet. One was being chased by a mob of stick-women wielding fans while another was being chased by a mob of stick-demons. Kotetsu turned the paper and exclaimed. "This kid even filled all the answer boxes with pointless doodles! He must have spent the whole hour doing this! He didn't even write his name on the paper!"

"I wonder what lesson _he_ took away from this," Ibiki mused.

* * *

A/N: And so the first test draws to a close! The events didn't _exactly_ follow those of canon, but it was close. Just a few notices...

-The point Naruto made about drawing a smiley face and getting credit for it... this is based off of a true story. A boy in my math class recently got back a quiz on which he got an unusually good grade. He showed it to me and I noticed that under the extra credit question, he had drawn a smiley face and had written nothing at all. The teacher drew a question mark there and gave the kid three extra points.

-Please do not ask who ended up having to pay for the ramen... the point is that it doesn't matter.

-I hope you appreciated Shujin's part in this chapter.

-Naruto is cold-shouldering Neji because he is angry at him on Hinata's behalf.

-For any who forgot, Kotetsu Hagane was one of the chunin who was pretending to be a genin and guarding room 201, which had a genjutsu on it at the time so it looked like room 301

-The scene where Hinata participated in Naruto's banter-well, it is possible, I know for a fact, to do something so mortifying that you can detach yourself from the situation and feel nothing, no emotions or opinions about it, at the time. Hopefully this satisfies you.

-Please take note that I have begun my fic based on a challenge by dracohalo117 entitled Perfection is in the Eyes of the Beholder. For all those who read/ favorited/reviewed for that fic already (or this fic), thank you very much. I appreciate it. The next time I update, it will be to add another chapter to Perfection. (I'm alternating chapters between this fic and that one).

-Before you leave this site, please spare a moment to leave me a review. Thank you!


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter XXII

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Oscar examined the sign affixed to the fence closely. 'Danger! Stay Out!' it read.

"Don't worry," Sasuke soothed an agitated Sakura, "We've been here before. It's just the Forest of Death."

"You have no idea how reassuring that is," Naruto deadpanned. Oscar, meanwhile, had just taken a marker out of his pocket and was busy covering the letters of the warning on the sign with tiny stick figures and animals, some using grappling hooks to climb steep upward strokes, some sliding down into the valleys formed by the warning.

"Oscar, that's vandalism!" Sakura reprimanded.

"Well, I'm just a regular juvenile delinquent, then, aren't I?" Oscar said, sketching busily. Naruto glanced over to where the other twenty-five passing teams stood huddled, not twenty feet away, necks craned back so they could peer up into the canopy of the towering trees. The wire fence before them seemed undeniably flimsy beside such an awesome sight. After leading the genin to this place, Anko had vanished, promising to be back in a minute. As Naruto looked around, the purple-haired woman reappeared in the midst of the crowd of genin. Team seven made haste to join the teams.

Anko was giving some creepy, dramatic spiel about how the genin would 'Soon find out why it was called the Forest of Death!'

Muah-ha-ha-ha! Shujin added to Naruto, his evil chuckle made comical by the bite of laughter at the end.

Naruto couldn't help it; he let out a snort of unrestrained laughter. No more than a split second later, there was a flash of metal beside Naruto's left eye and he felt a stinging sensation. By the time Naruto registered the warm wetness sliding down his cheek, he could already feel Shujin already beginning to heal the cut, but the blue-eyed boy stopped him. Too many people were watching by now to risk revealing his regeneration.

Before Naruto could put a hand up to the cut to disguise the fact that it had already half healed, Anko provided a much better distraction. Weaving her way through the crowd, she latched herself onto Naruto, pulling him off balance so that he staggered. He felt something swab his cheek, something warm, slick, and sinuous. With a twinge of disgust, he realized that Anko was licking the spilled blood from his face. Probably it had a dramatic effect on those foreign or Konoha ninja who weren't already acquainted with the Snake Mistress.

Naruto could see Hinata's pale face though the crowd, her features frozen in an expression halfway between disgust and blazing anger. Naruto was relieved to see that neither of these emotions seemed to be directed at him, however, only at the woman drinking his blood. It was then that he noticed a funny spasm cross Hinata's face, as if she weren't quite sure what she was seeing or how to react. Then her face relaxed into a little smile. Looking around, Naruto noticed more than one smirking face among the crowd, and a few were breaking into real laughter. Confused, Naruto twisted in Anko's straightjacket-like grip, to see what was going on.

Oscar had wandered up behind Anko while she had been terrorizing Naruto, with the air of one who was bored and looking for something to occupy him until something interesting came along. Casually, he had dipped his hand into the pocket of Anko's loose trench coat and pulled out a box of pocky, all without Anko being any the wiser. His face got a concentrated, bright look, as if pleased with himself. He held the little box up to his ear and shook it a little, listening to the rattle. Satisfied, he flipped the box open, pulled out a stick, and transferred it to his mouth.

Anko, interrupted in her vampirism, turned around at the faint sounds of crunching. When Oscar noticed her looking, he smiled and held out the open box. "Pocky?" he asked sweetly.

"Is that… mine?" Anko asked, temporarily thrown. Not that people never picked her pockets. They sometimes did. Once.

"Yep. Want some?" Anko stared at the box, shocked, for a full five seconds. Naruto counted, waiting for her to release him. He was not disappointed.

"You little bastard!" Anko screamed, practically throwing Naruto from her, the temptation of his blood forgotten. There was fresh blood here, just waiting to be spilled. Naruto had to give Oscar credit; his smile didn't so much as falter. He just stepped back, the open box held tauntingly in one hand as Anko lunged, not for the box, but for his throat. Oscar was only brought up short when he stepped heavily on someone's foot and he collided painfully with the other person's chest. Oscar looked up into the face of the taller person and Naruto could practically hear the dark boy's mind whirring.

The person he had backed into was excruciatingly pale with a narrow face that was shaded by the wide straw hat she wore. As Oscar stared up at her, she held something up. The kunai Anko had aimed at Naruto. She gripped it tightly as she held it out…

Naruto blinked a little. _Is it just me, or it she holding that with her tongue?_

I do believe you're right, Shujin said, that's disgusting. There was a pause. For a human.

_Okay, I don't want to know._

At that moment, Oscar finally decided to move. The pocky apparently forgotten, he raced right around Anko, her grab missing by a mile, to hide behind Naruto. In a stage whisper that carried louder and clearer to all of the amassed shinobi than if he had shouted, the dark boy said, "That creepy lady scares me!"

Naruto sized up Anko, who was receiving her kunai from the other woman, pulling it out of the coils of her tongue, and the other woman herself, of course. "Which one?" he asked.

"All of them!" Oscar declared.

"Alright! Shut up if you don't want me to carve your faces with a holes big enough to match your mouths!" Anko screamed suddenly, apparently finished with the pale woman.

Oscar cowered behind Naruto. "Protect me," he whispered.

"Now, before I set you cute little guttersnipes loose in the big, dark, deadly forest, I just need you all to do me one little favor. Sign these waivers so that when only half of you come out of this alive, the families of the other half don't sue me broke." Anko grinned happily as the genin hesitated. "Come on, I don't bite!" she paused for an instant, frowning. "No, wait, that's a lie. Oh well! Come on! Any takers? I'm not letting anyone beyond this point until _they_," she pointed to two bored-looking people sitting in a booth some distance behind her, "Have every one of your little incomprehensible signatures. And then," Anko giggled, seemingly unable to contain herself, "Let the carnage begin."

This elicited nothing but a blank silence from all of the gathered genin. Those who knew Anko personally were unimpressed, particularly as they had already entered the forest of death with few consequences. True, Kiba claimed that his left foot would never be the same again after stepping on that enormous leech, but his sister Hana had proclaimed it 'nothing to worry about,' so no one took him seriously.

Those Konoha shinobi and those from other villages, on the other hand, the ones who weren't used to Anko's antics, were seriously unsettled. In fact, though they broke the silence, turning to each other with agitated whispers, none was brave enough to step forward and take a waiver.

Sasuke sighed. "Hn. Anko, over here. I'll take one of those."

"Thanks a bunch, Uchiha. Just when I thought I was finally going to get that short one at the back to burst into tears," Anko groused. But it had done the trick. One after another, genin were stepping forward to collect the forms. Soon, every one of the forms was gone and an unruly mob was forming by the booth as people handed over their signatures and their safety.

"Hey, dobe. Did you notice she had us sign the forms before we even know what we're doing?" Sasuke asked, standing aside to let Naruto escape the crowd around the booth.

"Yeah, but she's always doing things like that," Naruto said comfortably. "I'm sure we'll be fine."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well, the first test was pretty rough. This one can't be too bad in comparison."

"Oh, I forgot. The first test was a _written_ one- your worst fear," Sasuke smirked.

"Unfair!" Naruto chided. "I'm just saying that the first test was all about mental strength and being able to take calculated risks. If this one is going to happen in the Forest of Death, it can't be that much more than a brute strength kind of test. Survival of the fittest and all that."

"Perhaps," Sasuke said cryptically, "But there are many here I wouldn't want to meet in a deadly forest without warning. Him, for instance," Sasuke said, nodding as Gaara walked past leading the other two members of his team. "Or even that Kabuto guy. We still have no idea what he's capable of."

"Well, he has failed this test six times already," Naruto pointed out.

Don't you find that unusual? Shujin chipped in. He's had years to build up his skills. If it's just that he hasn't trained seriously in all this time, why would he take the test every time it comes around? It's a big risk for someone who doesn't care about improving himself. And if that's not the reason, than he's been holding back.

_Why would he do that?_ Naruto wondered.

Your guess is as good as mine.

"What's your point, Sasuke? You just gave in your form. You can ask Anko, but I doubt she'd let you back out, even though we would still have three people on our team." The grin faded from Naruto's face and the twinkle that Sasuke had hardly ever known those blue eyes to be without was extinguished. "In any case, _I_ wouldn't let you back out now, even if Anko would," Naruto said seriously. "You've worked too hard for this to stop now, and if you drop out, not only will everyone around you lose respect for you, but you'll lose respect for yourself. It's now or never, and if you go for it and fail, you'll at least be able to say you tried. And you can try again and again as long as it takes, as long as you give it your all every time."

"You should write that down, Naruto," Sakura said, stepping up behind the blonde boy and laying a hand on his shoulder, "That was really good."

"Yeah, well, I'm saying it to myself as much as to him," Naruto grimaced.

"Did it work?" Oscar joined them and they all began walking back from the booth together, heading for the edge of the gate again where Anko was waiting to explain the directions.

"I guess so, but I'll still be calmer when this is over," Naruto said grimly.

When every straggler from the twenty-six teams had arrived, having given their forms to those manning the booth, Anko began.

"Alright, brats, listen up, because like the first test, there will be no questions and no repeats. This forest is basically an enormous circular plot of land with a radius of ten kilometers. Inside of this fence there is forest, obviously, but also a river and a tower right in the center." She considered for a moment, screwing up her face. "Well, near the center, anyway. In any case, your aims will be twofold. Firstly, you must survive the forest itself and make it to that tower within five days. Secondly, each team will receive one of these scrolls."

Anko held out two scrolls of the same size. One was black with the kanji for 'Earth' on it and the other was white with the kanji for 'Heaven' on it. "Thirteen teams will get one type and the other thirteen will be given the other type. You are to compete with every other team in this forest. No rules. No restrictions. Killing is permitted. You're goal is to arrive at that tower not only within the time limit, but with one of each kind of scroll. Thirteen of the teams here now will definitely fail, but I doubt that thirteen will actually pass, to be honest. Dying is easy. Fighting is hard. Be warned, those teams who lose a teammate or who have a teammate who was killed will be disqualified. Lastly, you are absolutely forbidden from opening those scrolls before you reach the tower. As a Chunin, being able to follow orders and not let personal curiosity jeopardize your mission is essential."

Anko looked around, checking every face, eyes lingering on every scared expression, every bead of sweat, every twitching hand. She smiled. "If you want my advice, here it is; don't die. You can probably do better than dying here. Now, there are forty-four gates around the perimeter of the gate. Pick one to start from. I'd say good luck, but if you're honestly relying on luck at this point, you may as well just get your teammates to kill you and save yourself the embarrassment later." She handed out the scrolls and the teams moved off, talking in hushed, strained voices and glancing back at Anko every so often. She watched them in turn, her light brown eyes pitiless and a smirk playing around her mouth. When every team was positioned before a gate, Anko looked around with deliberate enjoyment. "For most of you brats, I'd be lying if I said I'll miss you. So I won't. The second test begins now! Go!"

The man who had unlocked gate number twelve stood back and team seven, not so much as pausing to look at each other, dove straight through. Into the forest.

* * *

The four of them had been walking in complete silence for no more than an hour. Thus far there had been very few signs of wildlife, save for the enormous, bloated leeches draped over the distant branches of the gargantuan trees above and the occasional squirrel that would dart out across the path. Naruto shuddered. It seemed like the kind of place were all of the really dangerous creatures would come out at night, when the leaves blocked all moonlight and the ground was steeped in shadows. Naruto was just considering breaking the silence when a shrill scream rent the air. It resonated from far away, the dense canopy above acting as a primitive echo chamber, but Naruto, with his abnormal hearing, could tell it was male and definitely genuine.

"W-what was that?" Sakura stammered, unconsciously drawing closer to her teammates.

"I'd say that's one of our competitors down," Sasuke said, looking like he wasn't sure whether to be pleased or pitying.

"But that might mean one less chance for us to get the Earth scroll that we need," Oscar pointed out. "We should hurry up, get the scroll, and get to the tower."

"Are you scared?" Naruto asked, not jeeringly, merely curiously.

"I'd be a fool if I wasn't." The dark boy dropped his gaze to the brilliant green foliage around them. It wasn't as thick as Naruto would have expected, but he supposed that the leaves overhead must block most of the sunlight. Oscar spoke again, choosing his words carefully. "I think we should have a code word or something, in case we get separated."

"I agree," Sakura said, "We can't take anything for granted here, not even each other."

"How about this," Sasuke said tentatively, "If one of us asks another, 'How does the song "Nin Machine" go?' We have to answer, 'The Gray saw it and thought something should be done. The White didn't care. The Black saw it as good. The Yellow denied it. The Green looked around for someone who would act. The Blue supplied support and the Red went out and acted.' Do you guys have that?"

"Yes," Sakura replied immediately, "Easy."

"I think so," Oscar said, eyes screwed up, then nodded. "Yep, it's there."

"What about you Naruto?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke with wild, hunted eyes. "Are you kidding? I can't remember that!"

Unfortunately, neither can I, Shujin put in.

"But you have the gist, right?" Sasuke said.

Naruto had just opened his mouth to say that he had not even this, when he saw Sasuke wink. It was the briefest thing, but immediately after, Sasuke swiveled his eyes first to the right, then the left.

Naruto understood. _There may be someone listening. I'd better just go along with it._ "Actually, yeah, I think I might have it. At least the gist." Sasuke winked again.

"Good, then let's go. We may have five days, but Oscar was right, the sooner we get a scroll and get to the tower, the better."

"Then at least we'll get to see what's in these things," Naruto said, trying to cheer up the others. The words did not help much, though. _I keep forgetting that they can't heal. I guess imminent death doesn't agree with them,_ Naruto thought. _Good thing I'm used to it. I may end up having to take the lead here. For now, though, I think Sasuke has some kind of plan. At least, I hope so, because he's the one with the scroll._

The four of them continued, sticking to ground travel for the most part, hardly speaking, moving low bushes and climbing vines out of their paths every once in a while. After a while, when some of the immediate fears began to recede somewhat, the four of them found their paranoia mounting, slowly, subtly. After glancing around for the sixth time in the last half hour, Sasuke finally voiced what they were all thinking.

"We should have met someone by now. After all, some group out there will want out Heaven scroll. I'm glad we're making such good progress, but we really need to find a group with an Earth scroll."

Just because it had been said aloud, the bare facts did not alleviate any of the tension. They walked on in silence, until Naruto finally couldn't bear it. Not even Shujin was saying anything. "I need to go take a leak," Naruto said. He had been walking at the back of the group and the other three stopped and turned to exchange looks.

"I don't think you should go alone," Oscar said.

"Alright, who's coming with me?" The words came out slightly more aggressively than Naruto had intended. He quickly smiled so that no one would think he was being difficult.

"Not me," Oscar said quickly.

"Me neither," Sasuke said, no more than a beat later. They both looked at Sakura. She crossed her arms and stared right back.

"Oh no you don't. Don't you dare," She said, ominously.

"Not even for me?" Sasuke asked hopelessly.

Oscar punched Sasuke on the arm. "No fair exploiting her, Uchiha."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I have to go, so I'll just make sure I stay within shouting distance. How's that?"

"Should work. Just be careful," Sasuke said.

"Thanks," Naruto said and left. Sakura and Sasuke sat down on a nearby fallen log. Then they hastily got up as Oscar nudged them with his foot. All three bowed to the log and offered thanks and prayers for the rotting wood in its fallen state. Then all three sat down.

No more than a few minutes later, just when they were about to send someone after Naruto, the blonde boy emerged from the bushes. He stopped, his smile faltering, as Sasuke rose and pointed a kunai straight at him from the other side of the little enclosure. "How does the song, 'Nin Machine' go?" Sasuke asked.

Confidently, Naruto replied, "The Gray saw it and thought something should be done. The Green didn't care. The Black saw it as good. The Yellow denied it. The White looked around for someone who would act. The Blue supplied support and the Red went out and acted. Satisfied?" A moment later, the blonde boy dodged as the kunai left Sasuke's hand and narrowly missed Naruto's side. "What the hell?" he said indignantly. "What's wrong with you? I recited the code word!"

"Exactly. The best the real Naruto would be able to do is kind of blunder around and name colors. You recited it word for word. Who are you and what scroll do you have?"

"And if you have to answer just one of those questions, make it the second one, please," Oscar put in helpfully.

"Kukuku. Remarkable. I see I chose right, after all." There was a puff of smoke and the woman from before appeared in Naruto's place, the pale one who had handed Anko her kunai with her tongue. Now, she drew a black Earth scroll from a pocket of her white, robe-like garment. "You have the Heaven scroll, don't you? You need this." A thick, gray and scarlet snake slithered out of the end of the woman's sleeve. It coiled up the outside of the woman's sleeve, blinking slitted eyes at the three members of team seven and flicking its narrow, forked tongue in and out rapidly. Lazily, the pale woman reached up with the hand holding the Earth scroll and placed it in the jaws of the snake. The snake sent the other genin one last sly look across the thick scroll before retreating down the back of the woman's robe. As it did so, the woman removed the wide straw hat that she wore.

"As you should already know, this will be a fight to the death. A scroll battle of sorts. Are you ready? No? Good." Instantly, before a single move could be made on either side, Oscar, Sakura and Sasuke were pierced, run through by cold, cold blades- unyielding metal. Then they blinked and it was over. Sasuke found himself on his knees. _Genjutsu_, he thought stunned. Then, _No, that was no jutsu. That was pure, unfiltered, killing intent._ Sasuke felt as though he had just swallowed an apple whole. His throat hurt and his eyes stung. _I actually think I am about to die. Right here. Right now. _Suddenly, he registered someone tugging at his arm. The pale woman was saying something, but he couldn't focus. He must have been on the ground no more than a few seconds already and he allowed himself to be pulled up and dragged behind a tree.

There, Sakura squeezed his hand hard and briefly before backing up a pace. Sasuke's eyes followed her, blankly, without purpose, without emotion. Oscar pushed Sakura aside completely and studied Sasuke's expression minutely. In his stunned state, Sasuke heard the dark boy say the words, 'Thought it was a genjutsu,' 'Memories,' and 'Shock,' in a clipped, clinical tone. Sasuke wasn't paying attention until Oscar took a step back and slapped him as hard as he could across the face.

The sound of the blow seemed to ring in Sasuke's ears, but it had started fading already, and as it left, sounds came rushing in; branches cracking and shifting, Sakura whispering, the gloating voice of their adversary. Immediately, the details made sense and Sasuke clapped a hand over Sakura's mouth. Looking at Oscar, the Uchiha place a finger to his own lips. Oscar nodded once. The three of them split, heading for different branches to hide. _Where's Naruto?_ They all wondered as they crouched, hidden for the moment.

Sasuke laid a hand on the branch before him to free the other hand so he could move aside the foliage hanging in front of his face. He needed to see. As he rested his fingertips on the branch, however, it flexed, the tiny scales coating it contracting and expanding. Sasuke snatched his hand back, but it was too quick for him. A loose coil of the snake whipped around behind Sasuke, catching him in the small of the back and sending him flying out of the tree to sprawl on the forest floor. As soon as he landed he was on his feet, prepared to take cover. He turned to see the snake that had thrown him. It was rising from the branches of the tree in which he had been hiding. Sasuke knew that Oscar and Sakura would have seen it too.

"Don't help me!" he yelled. "Stay hidden!" He threw a hail of shuriken directly at the place where the serpent was emerging from the low canopy, looking like a sea snake resurfacing. Every one of the projectiles hit its mark and the snake toppled from the tree with an impact that made the ground shudder. When it hit the hard forest floor, there was a final sort of snapping noise.

Sasuke did not emerge from his crouching stance. His teammates were still not visible, and he hoped that they had the sense to remain hidden. None of them really believed that the fight was over so soon. Sasuke glanced around, wondering where the pale woman had gone. He was alerted by the noise of scales sliding and a sickening noise, like flesh being ripped apart. His eyes flicked forward in time to see a bulge moving in the side of the supine snake's neck. As he looked, the bulge split open and the pale woman emerged.

_If that snake wasn't dead already, she's just killed it,_ Sasuke thought.

"I'm glad to see you're prepared to take your enemies seriously, Uchiha. But if that's so, then tell me this. You want to live, I assume. So why do you, frightened little prey, not run from the deadly predator?" The pale woman smirked as she unfolded herself from the snake, freeing herself from the carcass with an impatient flick of her foot. "Now," She said, advancing.

As she moved, there was a blur of silver and to Sasuke's eyes it looked almost like the woman had spontaneously sprouted several projectile weapons from her chest. She hissed and fell back, half turning away and raising her hands to pull out the kunai and shuriken. Before Sasuke could so much as move, he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked around to see Naruto.

"Yeah, I don't remember the code word. You'll just have to take my word that I'm me," Naruto said. "Meanwhile, distract her, if you can. Get her talking. I'll try to find the others. Be back in a minute." Naruto left, leaving Sasuke quite alone. As it happened, he had been wondering himself at the fact that none of his teammates had shown up to help him. He feared the worst.

As the pale woman flung down the last kunai that Naruto had thrown at her, Sasuke rose. He put a hand in his pocket and drew out the Heaven scroll. He did not look at the scroll, but he held it out to the woman without a word.

"What, you're going to hand it over without consulting your teammates?" The woman asked sneeringly. She made no move to take the proffered scroll.

"Why not? They seem to have abandoned me," Sasuke said stonily.

"It's a noble sentiment, Sasuke Uchiha. Or it would be, if I had any need for your scroll. But, you see, that's not what I want. I want you. Not your life, not even your loyalty. Once you're on my side I can take either of those things quite easily, so what's the point?"

Sasuke barely hesitated. "If you agree not to follow my team, okay. I'll go with you."

The woman was taken aback. "Really?"

"Hell no! Just leave them alone! Come and get me!" Sasuke dove forward, stuffing the scroll back in his pocket and forming a seal as he went. "Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" The enormous fireball engulfed the pale woman, completely obscuring her from Sasuke's vision. He thought he could faintly hear her cry over the roaring of the flames. To Sasuke's confusion, an enormous roll of smoke bled through the fireball as the flames began to dissipate. The smoke hung in the air for a few moments after the flames had vanished completely and Sasuke activated his Sharingan, trying to penetrate the cloud, to catch sight of any movement. He saw more than that.

As the smoke cleared, the dull glint of scales e larger than paving stones was revealed. It was a snake the like and size of which Sasuke had never seen before. The pale woman crouched on its head, hand splayed on the plates that coated its flat skull.

Sasuke scrabbled back, almost falling over in haste to put distance between himself and the enormous summon. He fumbled around in his weapon pouches, desperately wracking his brains for a plan. But there was no plan. How could he fight something that size? Before he could succumb to hopelessness, however, something yellow came streaking down from the branches above. Sasuke watched in shock, only just barely able to keep up with the movement with his still-active Sharingan. Naruto was aimed for the end of the snake's nose, where the scales were thinnest and most sensitive He landed with a blow that sent the snake's head, and the woman along with it, crashing into the forest floor.

Hissing angrily, the snake reared. Naruto made to dodge out of the way, but he did not see the snake's enormous tail whipping around to meet him. With a single powerful flick, the snake sent Naruto smashing into the trunk of a nearby tree. The blonde boy began to fall. The pale woman had just drawn breath to tell her snake to eat the boy when Naruto's body seemed to ripple and distort in mid air. As Sasuke watched, Naruto flipped himself over and threw himself at the tree trunk, stopping his descent by burying in the tree's trunk a full set of two-inch-long claws that he definitely had not possessed before the fall. He clung to the tree, head-down like a squirrel for a moment. Then he stood, releasing the bark with his claws and standing perpendicular to the trunk, using chakra alone to stick. He launched himself right back at the snake.

Sasuke would have watched what happened next, if he hadn't been seized roughly from behind and dragged around a nearby tree. He shook off the clutching hands and readied himself for a fight before realizing it was only Oscar and Sakura.

"Where have you been?" he whispered indignantly.

"We ran into a bit of trouble when we left to hide. Snake summons. Not as big as this one, but _still_," Oscar replied. Now Sasuke came to look at him properly, he was covered in streaks of blood and some sticky, unpleasant substance.

"One snake each, Naruto included," Sakura added. She was holding a bundle of cloth bandages to her right arm, where there was a series of long, deep gouges and scrapes and in some place her skin was reduced to narrow, bloody ribbons.

"What are we doing hiding? We have to help Naruto!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Do you have a plan?" Oscar asked, "Or do we just dive in headfirst like usual?"

Sasuke thought for a moment, option after option presenting itself to him. He had to reject most of them. Not much chakra left. Not many weapons. No bargaining. No room to maneuver. They couldn't run. Until he remembered one option. "Sakura, do you have any of your throwing weapons left?" Sasuke asked. Sakura nodded, unfastening her holsters and passing them to him. He received them with a nod of thanks. "Oscar, how much chakra do you have left?"

"Enough for either a good thirty second distraction, or maybe a minute in a pinch, or for one last really good strike."

"That should be enough." Sasuke quickly outlined the plan to them, peering out around the tree to check on Naruto.

The blonde boy was holding his own, but just barely. As Sasuke looked, Naruto finally managed to get in close. He was within striking distance of the woman, who was still riding atop her summon. Sasuke briefly wondered if they would even need his plan, but just then, the woman grabbed one of Naruto's hands with her own, stopping the attack dead and immobilizing the other hand in much the same way with her long tongue.

Sasuke saw her lift up the hem of Naruto's shirt with her free hand. She smiled as she held up that hand, each finger tipped with what looked like a little flickering flame. Then she slammed that hand into Naruto's stomach, crying out as she did so.

Naruto's eyes went wide, so wide that Sasuke noticed their unusual red color and slitted pupils for the first time… Naruto collapsed, slumped in the woman's grasp. She tossed him aside impatiently, but with such force that the other members of team seven knew he would probably break his neck on impact with the tree he was on a collision course for.

"No!" Sakura leapt up and, despite her teammates' shouts, darted out and raced up the trunk of the enormous tree in time to get between Naruto and the trunk. He still hit her at a considerable velocity, however, and temporarily knocked the air from her lungs. In that moment, unable to breathe, she temporarily lost hold over her tree-climbing jutsu and they plummeted together. Sakura was just able to catch hold of Naruto's wrist in one hand and, as they fell past the lowest branch of the tree, some twenty or thirty feet above the ground, she caught hold of the branch in her other hand, halting their descent, but dislocating her shoulder in the process with the rough, sudden stop. She screamed in pain as she slowly, inch by inch, dragged first herself and then Naruto up over the branch. Then she had to let go of the blonde boy in order to sob and clutch her shoulder in agony. She tore the training weight from the wrist of her injured arm and threw it to the ground.

Meanwhile, the pale, long-haired woman dispelled her snake summon, staring expectantly at the tree behind which Sasuke and Oscar were hiding. She took not the slightest notice of Sakura and Naruto.

Behind the tree, the two boys glanced at each other. Oscar held up three fingers, silently counting down. _Three- two- one- now!_ Sasuke threw himself around the tree. He took no more than a split second to orient himself, to use his sharingan, before the weapons had parted company with his hands, thrown hard and viciously straight at the woman. She avoided them with ease, smirking at the dismayed expression on Sasuke's face.

But the smirk quickly vanished as she noticed the wires tied tightly to the throwing weapons and held taut by the flight of the spinning projectiles. "What?" was all she had time to say, before Oscar had sidled around the opposite side of the tree from where Sasuke had emerged. He laid his fingers across the wires and glanced toward Sasuke. Both acted simultaneously.

Lightning chakra leapt down the lengths of the wires, the bolts arcing between the metal projectiles, still spinning on the ends of their tethers on either side of the pale woman. Caught in the middle, her spine arched and a short scream sliced through the crackling and popping sounds. She fell to the ground, attempted to stop herself from falling completely by putting her hands up in front of her, but to no avail. She crumpled face-first onto the hard earth.

Sasuke dropped her arms to his sides, letting the wires and weapons patter down harmlessly. Oscar was panting, seriously low on chakra. Sasuke felt rather drained himself and, though it would not make a difference, he automatically deactivated his sharingan. There was a pause. A single still moment. The fight was finished.

"Might as well collect her scroll," Oscar said finally, glancing up to where Sakura and Naruto were still perched in the tree above. Apparently deciding that they could wait a few minutes, Oscar approached the pale woman's supine form. Sasuke followed.

When they reached her side, Oscar flipped her onto her back, wincing at the dry rasping noise of crisped skin. "That snake with the scroll is probably in her sleeve again. It wouldn't have stayed behind her back."

Sasuke nodded, crouching down and pushing up the woman's sleeve in time to catch hold of the tail of the small snake as it attempted to slither out of the neck of the woman's clothes. Sasuke dragged the snake out backward, past caring whether he was hurting it or not, and handed it, along with the scroll it carried, to Oscar. He made to turn away and stand up, but paused. Crouching and sliding up the woman's sleeve again, Sasuke studied the seals inscribed on her wrist and a single streak of blood that adorned the seals. He bent a bit closer for a better look, not really wanting to touch the singed flesh.

As he leaned forward, he heard a sudden exclamation from Oscar and felt the ground tremble. Before he could turn his head, a terrible pain suddenly bloomed from two points on the side of his neck. He tried to move, scream, anything, but his body would not respond. _Poison?_ He wondered. He felt the earth shudder once more and heard Oscar swearing. The other boy's voice passed in and out of hearing. Sasuke's neck hurt so badly that he found he was holding his head canted to one side. He reached up gingerly. No sooner had he laid his fingertips on the wound, then the pain exploded into Sasuke's skull, obscuring his vision with red and black sparks and swirls. His voice seemed to unstick. He screamed. And screamed. Until his breath ran out. He passed out.

* * *

From the bushes, three genin watched, shifting every now and then. "Shall we attack in the morning?" The speaker was a tall boy with spiked hair.

"Might as well," the other boy smirked. He wore bandages wound all around his head and face.

"Just leave the girl from me," the third person said, female this time, with long dark hair.

"Sure. Have her. _Kill_ her, for all she matters. I don't care. Just don't hurt the Uchiha," said the bandaged boy.

"Alright. In the morning then." Three hitai-ates glinted subtly in the dying light filtering through the branches overhead. Three hitai-ates. Three musical notes. Three pairs of cunning, greedy eyes- watching Sasuke, watching Naruto, watching Sakura and Oscar. Watching, watching.

* * *

A/N: A bit late, but not so bad. As per usual, a few notices and notes on the chapter.

-It was mostly centered on Sasuke. I don't really intend to write more of that, but I think it served its purpose here.

-Sasuke kind of froze when he thought he was under a genjutsu because it brought back old memories of when Itachi put that fateful genjutsu on him...

-Deviated from canon a bit, but then, that's the point.

-The codeword response... I actually made it up a long time ago and needed something here that didn't rhyme. All of my rhymes are pretty easy to remember, so it was too unrealistic that Naruto wouldn't be able to remember them if I used one.

-The next update I'll make will be the third chapter of my challenge fic, Perfection is in the Eyes of the Beholder. Where Kushina has appeared! So check that out if you're interested.

-I'll probably remember something else later that I also wanted to say here, but for now, the usual. Thank you for reading. Please oh please leave a review on the site and your soul at the door. Thank you and until next time!


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter XXIII

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Oscar and Sakura laid Naruto and Sasuke out side-by-side under the arching roots of the nearest tree, seeking what meager protection they offered. Muttering to himself as he did so, Oscar preformed a cursory examination on each of his unconscious teammates.

"Naruto's out cold and Sasuke is feverish, but they both appear stable for now," he reported.

"What did that woman do to them?" Sakura asked, trying to keep the shake out of her voice as she cradled her useless arm.

"I have no idea, but there's no time to lose on a thorough diagnosis. The first order of business is to deal with your injury."

"But why? I can wait a while. Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun-" But Oscar cut her off.

"Sakura, we are incredibly exposed here, and the two of us may have to fight off any number of enemy shinobi at any moment. Remember, those enemies will want what we have, and, not sure how to break this to you, but you and I are possibly the two least-skilled and least-prepared members of our team. My first priority is to get your arm in working condition so you can start laying some traps and then assist me when I examine them. We have no idea what we're dealing with and if the two of us are not prepared for a surprise-attack when it comes because we decided to take care of our unconscious teammates first, all four of us could be in grave, possibly fatal, danger. Do you understand?"

Sakura nodded. Everything the dark boy said made sense, no matter how much she hated the prospect of leaving Sasuke-kun unconscious and uncared for, even for a few minutes. And Naruto-kun too, of course. "What do you need me to do?"

Oscar seemed to consider for a moment. "Before I do anything, let me look at your shoulder. Hold still." Oscar gently took hold of either side of the split at the edge of Sakura's sleeve and, before she could protest, wrenched the sleeve in two down the seam with a loud ripping noise. Sakura bit back a shriek of pain as the movement jarred her injured shoulder. Oscar laid back the halves of the sleeve and inspected the unnatural bone structure that was deforming and stretching the luckily unbroken skin painfully. "Hmm," was his only comment. He probed the dislocation was one finger and Sakura resisted the urge to scream at him or to slap his hand away. "Alright, fairly straightforward, but do both of us a favor and kneel down and make sure you're steady, because this is going to hurt more than you'd expect, though the pain should recede fairly quickly once it's realigned."

Sakura knelt down as Oscar had requested and the dark boy imitated her, kneeling before her and tentatively placing a hand on each of her shoulders. Sakura winced when he touched her right one, but he took no notice, cupping the ball joint in the palm of his left hand. "Hold onto my arm with your left hand," Oscar advised, and Sakura followed suit unquestioningly, gripping Oscar's right arm tightly with her uninjured left. "Here we go." Oscar took a breath, then acted, simultaneously bracing his right hand against Sakura's left shoulder and wrenching with his left hand.

The ball-joint ground painfully over the cusp of the socket before snapping into place. Sakura let out a strangled cry and released Oscar's arm to quickly wipe the stinging tears from her eyes and the blood from her lip where she had bitten it.

Oscar sat back on his heels. "There. Now don't try anything too strenuous with that arm for a while. I would try to take some of the pain away with chakra, but I have to save what I've got left to focus on Sasuke and Naruto and on not passing out. In any case, can you work on setting up a couple of traps?"

Sakura swallowed, rubbing her bare shoulder tenderly with her other hand. "Yes, Oscar-kun. When I'm finished, do you need help examining them?"

"That would be appreciated." Sakura stood up and Oscar followed suit. After exchanging a single look, which seemed to communicate the hectic, rather dubious, determination that they both shared, Sakura left, pacing off the perimeter at which she would begin setting traps. She was allowing them room to maneuver in the clearing without setting off their own traps.

Oscar watched her go for a moment, before shaking his head. They were in so much shit. They could try to make it to the tower when their reserves of chakra had been replenished, but that meant defending the clearing at least for the night, and then carrying Sasuke and Naruto all the way to the tower if they hadn't woken up by then. It was a good thing they already had both of the scrolls. That ought to save time, as they wouldn't need to go looking for other groups to fight.

By that time, Oscar was already crouched at Sasuke's side. Unsure of what exactly was wrong with either of the boys, the dark boy had decided to start with bringing Sasuke's temperature down and work from there.

Stripping off his own shirt, Oscar got to work, every so often pausing to listen for the rustle of Sakura moving in the nearby foliage.

Oscar ripped his shirt into strips and dribbled some of their precious drinking water onto one of the strips, using it to bathe Sasuke's face and clean the semi-congealed blood from the savage puncture wounds on the side of the Uchiha's neck. Oscar stared at the strange seal surrounding the wound but was unable to decipher it, never having learned much about fuinjutsu. He probed it with gentle sparks of chakra-induced electricity, none of a higher or more intense level than that of a minor static shock, but neither the seal nor the dark-haired boy reacted.

Finally, dissatisfied but helpless, Oscar stood, leaving a fresh, damp rag on Sasuke's forehead and another covering the wound, and picked his way around the prone forms until he could kneel beside Naruto. Sakura joined him there, having completed her task for the time being. Oscar relayed to her the little he could deduce about Sasuke's condition, before asking what she could tell him about Naruto's.

"Well, before she threw him, that kunoichi hit Naruto in the stomach," Sakura recalled, screwing up her eyes in concentration.

"Some kind of jutsu?"

"I think so." Sakura watched as Oscar lifted the hem of Naruto's shirt, revealing his stomach. "Hang on, where's the Kyuubi's seal?" Sakura asked, instantly worried by the unmarked skin.

"It only appears when Naruto is consciously channeling chakra," Oscar explained absently. With difficulty, he stopped himself from adding the word 'dumbass.' Tension was already running high. No need for him to take it out on Sakura, who, after all, was the reason that Naruto was still breathing and not lying dead with a broken neck and a crushed skull.

He prodded Naruto's stomach, glancing at the blonde boy's face for a reaction. However, none was forthcoming. Oscar sat back and ran a hand through his spiky brown hair. "Well, I have no idea what that woman did to him. From what I can see, there don't appear to any signs of damage from that last strike. Hopefully it's just that Shujin already healed him. When he wakes up, we'll have to ask. Meanwhile, can you keep that rag on Sasuke's forehead wet? If we get some sleep tonight, we may be able to move on tomorrow."

Sakura glanced upward, eyes anxiously probing the canopy for the telltale signs of sunset above. "I really wish we had a few of Naruto's clones right about now," she commented.

"_I_ really wish we were already at the tower talking to a subterranean tribe of native blue-scaled dwarves, but you can't have everything in life," Oscar said. "I vote we sleep in shifts. I'll take first watch and wake you in a few hours. All in favor?"

"Aye," Sakura said, raising her good hand.

"Aye. All opposed? None? Motion carried. Now get to sleep. Although if you hear screaming, please do me a favor and try your best to wake up, as that will be me and I may require assistance at that point."

Sakura nodded, not even bothering to comment on her teammate's dark humor. She lay back in the drifts of fallen leaves, resting her head on her good arm and cradling her still-aching right arm to her chest.

Oscar drew out one of his few remaining kunai. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

The next morning, Sakura awoke and immediately looked around for the rest of her team. To her disappointment, though not surprise, Sasuke and Naruto were still out cold, lying side-by-side beneath the arching roots of the mighty tree that towered above. Oscar had only woken her once during the night, and after her shift had ended and she had woken him again, he had not disturbed her for the rest of the night.

Sakura stood, turning slowly as she stretched and squinted against the bright, washed-out looking sunlight that pierced through the chinks in the canopy above, lancing down to the leaf-strewn ground below. Where was- ah. There he was.

Oscar was sitting hunched over with his back to the enormous tree behind them. His forehead almost brushed his knees, but his grip on his kunai was strong and steady. Sakura approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder, forgetting that he no longer wore a shirt until her fingertips met his skin, which was slightly sticky and clammy with cold sweat.

Oscar sat up with a start, kunai at the ready and Sakura had to back away quickly to keep from being skewered.

The dark boy's eyes were slightly unfocused for a moment, as though he was trying to remember who she was and whether or not he was supposed to be attacking her. Finally, her identity seemed to register with him and he lowered the knife, slumping back against the tree trunk and regarding her balefully. He ran a hand through his already messy, tangled hair. Sakura noticed the dark circles under his eyes, as his skin seemed a few shades paler than usual.

"Good morning, Sakura. Sleep alright?"

"Well enough," Sakura replied, deciding not to mention that she had kept waking up, disturbed by rustling in the nearby shrubbery. "What about you? Did you sleep at all?"

"A bit between shifts, but that's about it. I just didn't hear you when you woke up, which is why I didn't react." He let out a humorless chuckle. "Shit, I really hope no one decides to take us on today. I'm not entirely sure if it would end in our immediate deaths at their hands or if they would just leave us here without the scrolls to starve. Either way sounds equally appealing."

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked, wincing in sympathy as Oscar stood up, arching his spine and eliciting a symphony of cracks and groans.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just having a nice little whine. Sitting it the dark alone in this forest is not only really stress-inducing, it's boring as all hell." Oscar paused for a moment, mid-stretch, considering. "Now that I think about it, I'd never have really believed before that it was possible to be both scared shitless and bored to tears at the same time. Oh well, you learn something new every day."

As Sakura watched, Oscar stowed his kunai carefully in one of his pouches. The action seemed to remind him of something. "Hm. What did you use to set those traps last night?" he asked, turning to where Naruto and Sasuke lay, motionless.

"Weapons from the fight with that woman that were left lying around or buried or lodged in trees," Sakura admitted, watching as Oscar bent over Sasuke.

"Resourceful," Oscar commented, pulling back the pale boy's eyelid, and removing the rag from his forehead. He held the rag out behind him until Sakura came forward and took it. "Soak that in water, will you?" Oscar requested as he lifted the Uchiha's wrist, taking his pulse.

Sakura did as she was told while Oscar, seemingly satisfied in a dissatisfied kind of way, crawled around Sasuke's head to kneel by Naruto instead. As Sakura laid the damp cloth on Sasuke's head once more, Oscar examined Naruto as he had examined the Uchiha, as well as checking Naruto's stomach to see if anything had changed visibly. It hadn't, so Oscar lowered Naruto's shirt with a shrug.

"When do you suggest we start heading for the tower?" Sakura asked. "You know, the longer we stay in one place, the longer all four of us have to recover. On the other hand, the sooner we leave, the sooner we can all get real medical care, though we may be exposed as we travel, if we're not careful."

"All true, not to mention that the longer we stay here, the easier we are to target for an ambush." Oscar paused, deliberating. "How about we leave in, say, an hour. That should give us time to salvage some of the weapons and such that you used to set the traps. Sound good?"

"You're the boss," Sakura said, making to move away. However, at the sound of Oscar's voice, she stopped and looked back.

"Not the _boss._ We're a team, and that's even more important than ever, seeing as half of our team is out of action," Oscar said seriously. "You need to know that."

"I know." Sakura departed and Oscar took the opportunity to sit down again and rest. And think. With his eyes closed he could hear rustling in the nearby bushes. "Geez Sakura, are you trying to alert every shinobi within a half-mile radius to our position? I'll help in a minute, just try to keep it quiet."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about being quiet. Just wake up your Uchiha friend so we can fight him and we may leave you relatively intact." Oscar's eyes snapped open and he shot bolt upright as three shinobi forced their way through the bushes.

He studied them for the moment t took him to fumble his remaining kunai from his weapon pouch, but as soon as he had the knife in hand and was standing before the invaders, relaxed somewhat, adopting a lounging posture. "Oh, you're nin from Oto, just like the lady with the snakes. Just as a matter of interest, what was the fuinjutsu that she did to Sasuke? The seal appeared when she bit him."

The three nin looked startled, exchanging glances that were not wasted on the dark boy. "Why should you care about the nature of that jutsu," the leader of the group, a boy whose head was almost entirely concealed by bandages, asked aggressively.

"My purposes are threefold. Firstly, as the amateur, self-proclaimed medic of the group, it's good for me to find out any secret techniques that that the enemy may use in battle that could potentially incapacitate my teammates so that I can find a medical jutsu that counters them. Secondly, you come here asking to fight Sasuke, and yet he was knocked out in the first place by a ninja of your own village. I want to know if that was just poor coordination in the information web of the Oto nin or if you did that on purpose so that I can exploit the situation accordingly."

"And what's the third reason?" The other boy of the group asked, seemly unable to help himself.

"Well, thirdly, if you three actually take the time to explain this unknown fuinjutsu to me, it might just waste enough time so that you either lose the will to fight me, are convinced that I am actually a much better ninja than you officially thought and decide to retreat, or backup comes to help me out." Oscar grinned confidently.

"That's your big plan? Just stall?" the only kunoichi of the group asked.

"Well… yes. Give me some credit, it's the best I could come up with on the fly," Oscar pouted.

Zaku, the tall, dark-haired Oto nin covered his eyes with one hand. "God, he is so _annoying._ Can I kill him before I kill the others, Dosu?"

"Be my guest with this Kumo-nin, though I insist on being the one to kill Sasuke," The boy swathed in bandages replied.

"Excellent." Zaku took a step forward and Oscar readied himself for a fight.

Just then, a figure pushed her way through the bushes, speaking as she came. "Alright, I got most of the traps, but we'd better be careful because there may still be a few-" Sakura's voice was cut off as she dodged to her left, out of the path of the senbon that had been thrown her way. "What?" It was then that she spotted the headbands of the interlopers. "Oto-nin? Oscar! Are they here for Sasuke-kun?"

"Got it in one," the girl, Kin, said, smirking. "And, by the way, you should fire the one who's been teaching you to set traps. Those things were glaringly obvious, even at night."

Zaku gave Sakura a disparaging once-over, dismissing her as a possible challenge. "You said you wanted her, Kin. Do you still?"

"_Oh_ yes. This one thinks far too well of herself," Kin said, baring her teeth in a grin as she withdrew several more kunai. "Killing her should be fun, even if it's not too hard."

"Alright then. Come here, Kumo-brat." Zaku took another step forward, only stopping reluctantly at the command of Dosu.

"Stop, Zaku. You should know better than that."

"What, are you talking about that girl's pathetic trap? Don't make me laugh! I could avoid that if I was sleep-walking blindfold."

"Er, doesn't the sleepwalking part of that kind of render the blindfold redundant?" Oscar asked, not moving from his fighters' crouch.

"What?"

"Well, if you're asleep, you're not seeing where you're going anyway, so there's really no point in the blindfold in that comparison. I mean, I understand where that must have stemmed from, but-"

Zaku cut the darker boy off. "Oh, I'm _so_ going to enjoy killing you."

"I'm so glad. Everyone ought to have a hobby in which they can take pleasure and enjoyment. Y'know, to relieve the stress of being a ninja, somewhat. However, if I may, I would suggest you cast around for a different-" But Oscar broke off as he instinctively ducked the shuriken that came his way. The star spun through the air, lodging in the trunk of the tree behind him, severing the rope that was fastened through the loop of a kunai driven into the tree trunk.

There was a loud, cracking, sliding noise from above and as the Sound nin looked up, distracted, Oscar stepped aside and Sakura quickly shoved Kin in front of her, both members of team seven making prayerful gestures.

Not missing a beat, however, Dosu leapt up, placing the fingertips of one hand on the log as it fell and making a handseal with the other hand. The log exploded, showering the forest floor with woodchips. Oscar was heard to mutter something about a 'demonic playground of sin,' as he covered his head with his bare arms.

Sakura, seeing an opening in the proceedings, as the exploding log seemed to have made Kin momentarily forget about her, pulled out one of her salvaged weapons, thought better of it, and pulled out one of Kin's few shuriken from the dark-haired girl's pouch fastened to the back of her belt. Before Kin could grab Sakura's hand, she threw the shuriken, aiming for the tendon above Zaku's heel, which was only protected by the cloth of his ninja-sandal.

Kin shouted a warning and Zaku dodged instantly, leaping into the air as the projectile missing him and imbedding itself in the pliant, woodchip-strewn ground.

In mid-flight, Zaku raised his arms, aiming the palms of his hands at Oscar. Oscar immediately ducked, so fast that he fell forward unto his front. Oscar scrambled forward awkwardly as fast as he could on his front using his elbows and knees just before Zaku landed just where the dark boy had been standing before. Zaku swung around to face Oscar, who slipped, trying to stand.

While Zaku was engaged with Oscar and Kin with Sakura, Dosu made his way over to Sasuke, weaving between the fighters. He examined the seal on the side of Sasuke's neck, wondering what on earth his master had intended for the boy. Sitting down slowly and leisurely, Dosu turned his exposed eye toward his comrades, watching their fights. Really, the Konoha ninjas were putting up a better fight than he would have expected. Not that this amounted to much.

Sakura dodged yet another set of senbon, moving in close and trying to grab Kin's arm. However, Kin leapt back, throwing two sets of senbon at Sakura, who moved in front of the attacks by following Kin, who, she noticed had been aiming at her feet. In the light, Sakura noticed a dull gleam. "Wires? Are you trying to tie me up?" She asked mockingly. Kin clicked her tongue in annoyance and dived forward, a move that Sakura hadn't been expecting. She raised her kunai, leveling it at Kin's heart, but the dark-haired girl brushed it aside, grabbing Sakura by the hair with the same movement.

"I don't need to tie you up to trap you, you flaming amateur," Kin smirked, tightening her grip so that Sakura's hair was pulled fiercely. Gritting her teeth against the pain, Sakura slashed as Kin's ankles, but the dark-haired girl stepped on her hand, seizing the other and twisting it up behind Sakura's back so that if she tried to move, she would tear the muscles in her arm. "Give up, princess?"

Meanwhile, Oscar had finally gotten to his feet, kunai in hand. He wove and ducked, trying to get closer to Zaku, who fended him off with one raised palm and drew out a kunai of his own with the other hand. Before he could either throw the knife or fire another blast of air, Oscar threw his own kunai and ducked. The knife flew true and the tip entered the opening in Zaku's hand, glancing off the inner wall of the pipe. Zaku yelled in surprise and pain as all of the lightning chakra in the kunai was discharged by contact with the metal pipe, dispersing throughout his body. Zaku was momentarily immobilized, there being no wind chakra already formed in his arms to counteract the lightning chakra.

In that moment, Oscar bent his knees, channeling a small amount of chakra to his legs, and leapt, lashing out with one foot and catching Zaku in the side of the head. Zaku twisted as he fell, getting his hands up in front of him in time to break his fall. However, Oscar was on him in an instant, panting, his ear bleeding from an earlier blast of air that had clipped the side of his head. He brought an elbow down between Zaku's shoulder blades and forcing the taller boy's hands beneath his body as he collapsed. Oscar pulled a kunai from Zaku's pouch and shoved the tip down between Zaku's shoulder blades. As the first inch of the blade entered his back, Zaku stopped struggling. Oscar's breathing was ragged and gasping as he leaned forward. "You try using your air attacks and you'll just blow yourself up. You try moving and I'll cut your spinal column. So just lie there very, very still," he whispered.

Both Sakura and Oscar looked up, startled, at the sound of slow clapping. Dosu stood up and took a step away from Sasuke and Naruto's bodies. "Well done," he said. "You two put up more a fight than I expected based on how little rest you got last night. But all the same," Dosu's one visible eye narrowed. "If my teammates hadn't been playing with you, you wouldn't have lasted this long."

Kin shifted in anticipation, unintentionally removing her foot from pinning down Sakura's hand and dragging Sakura up into a kneeling position by her hair. Sakura narrowed her eyes against the pain but didn't otherwise move, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that one of her hands was free.

At the same time, Zaku acted, using his wind chakra to propel himself and sitting up so fast that Oscar was thrown back onto the ground before he could have a chance to use the kunai in Zaku's back. Zaku kicked him in the exposed ribs and Oscar curled up, wheezing, trying to regain his breath. Dosu took another step forward toward Zaku, away from Sasuke and Naruto.

Sakura saw Dosu and decided that Oscar, who was still trying to catch his breath, finally needed her help. Hesitating only for the briefest of moments, Sakura raised the kunai she held in her free hand and slashed it through her hair, severing one of Kin's remaining holds on her. Before Kin could either regain her balance or recover from her surprise, Sakura took the same knife and stabbed it down through Kin's closest foot. Kin screamed and released Sakura's arm. Sakura took off running towards Dosu. Kin sent a hail of senbon after her, but Sakura Kawirimi'd before the needles could reach her. She appeared behind Dosu, another kunai already raised, but he heard her and whipped around, his speed astonishing her, and fired a blast from his sound gauntlets. Sakura Kawirimi'd again, appearing behind Zaku this time. She threw a few shuriken at his back, but he has already turned and blasted a wave of air that sent them spinning back toward her before they reached him.

Before she could be hit by her own shuriken, Sakura Kawirimi'd again, appearing above Zaku and Dosu. Smirking, they each sent a handful of shuriken into the air, before looking around for where she would appear next. "There!" Dosu said, pointing his sound gauntlets toward the pink-haired figure. She was sitting in a tree, forming a handseal that was unfamiliar to the sound nin. As both readied their respective attacks, they heard a warning cry from Kin, just before Zaku was knocked to the ground and Dosu was slammed in the back. "What?"

The clone in the tree vanished and Dosu spun around to see Sakura who was in the act of hauling Oscar to his feet. Sakura's skin was pierced in several places and blood ran freely from her wounds, some of which still had weapons lodged in them. Now Sakura and Oscar froze, both panting heavily, as all three of the sound nin closed in, Zaku getting to his feet once more and Kin limping forward, having taken the kunai out of her foot. "Right! I'm going to kill that little bitch!" Kin said, seizing Sakura by her shoulder. "And don't think you can get out of this by Kawirimi'ing. I saw you before and you must be nearly out of chakra by now." On the other side, Zaku grabbed hold of Oscar, wrapping his arm around him in a headlock and placing the palm of his other hand against the dark boy's temple. Oscar struggled, but space was really too confined to allow much movement.

It was then that Dosu felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned in time to meet Naruto's oncoming fist head-on. He reeled, staggering between his teammates. Naruto moved in close, batting aside Dosu's sound gauntlet and grabbing the front of his shirt. Naruto knocked Dosu's feet out from under him, lifting him by the front of his shirt as he did so and throwing him down. Dosu twisted as he fell, landing on his side and immediately aiming his hand at Naruto. However, Naruto stepped on the gauntlet, pinning down that arm and kicking Dosu hard, right in the face, breaking his nose.

Dosu channeled chakra through the gauntlet on which Naruto stood, and nothing seemed to happen for a moment. Then Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke. A shadow clone. Before Dosu could get to his feet and locate the real Naruto, He was lifted from behind and slung forward, into the path of several small fireballs. To his right and left, Kin and Zaku appeared. The genin whom they had been holding had been substituted by kawirimi'ing shadow clones who had been quick to gain the upper and hand and shove the sound nin into the path of the fireballs.

Wasting no time, Zaku attempted to blast back the fireballs, only for the flames to disperse and reveal the shuriken at their cores. The shuriken peppered Zaku and Kin, who had automatically moved in front of their leader, piercing them.

As the flames and lingering smoke from the shadow clones cleared, a new figure was revealed. Sasuke stood, his sharingan active and arms raised before him, ready should he need to make the handseals for a new jutsu. But there was something radically different about him. Even his teammates, all three of whom were crouched some way behind Sasuke, noticed it. Emanating from the mysterious seal on the side of Sasuke's neck, black, flame-like markings spread across his skin, already covering his left arm and half of his face.

Naruto made to join Sasuke, but the latter held up a hand, not turning around. "It's alright, I feel fine. I don't need any help. Just take care of Sakura and Oscar while I deal with these guys."

Zaku snorted derisively. "Fine? Deal with us? You're half-dead! This should be easy." Despite his teammates' warnings, Zaku sent a blast of air in Sasuke's direction, but before the attack could reach him, Sasuke was gone and Naruto had to move fast to get his injured teammates out of the way.

Sasuke first appeared behind Kin, quickly knocking her out with a heavy blow to the side of the head. Then, before Zaku or Dosu could attack him again, Sasuke appeared behind Zaku, grabbing him by the wrists and forcing his down. "You're proud of your abilities, aren't you?" Sasuke placed a foot just below the place where Oscar had stabbed Zaku before. "I don't mind. Proud enemies make mistakes. But the mistake you've made is going to cost you." The level of KI around the Uchiha rose and the black markings seemed to pour faster from the seal on the side of his neck, covering his face and making his left arm seem almost solid black. "You attacked my friends. That's worth breaking your pride a little, I think. Don't you agree?" Sasuke simultaneously stamped down with the foot on Zaku's back and pulled back on his wrists.

Zaku let out a hoarse yell as the crack of his shoulders dislocating rang through the relative quiet of the clearing. Sakura winced in sympathy as Sasuke tossed the tall boy aside. Zaku, seizing a golden opportunity, passed out.

That left Dosu, and as Sasuke turned his sights on the bandaged boy, Dosu was acutely aware of his injuries, his broken nose, and his unconscious teammates. And, of course of the pair of bright, furious sharingans that were currently surveying him with a sort of detached focus, as though killing him would be the easiest thing in the world and the only thing that remained was for the Uchiha to decide which method would be the quickest.

Dosu decided a tactical retreat would be best. Then perhaps he could ask Orochimaru-sama what the hell he had been thinking. He cleared his throat a bit to break Sasuke from any thoughts he might have been having about killing him. "I see we underestimated the strength of your team as a whole. Take this for your troubles." Dosu drew out the scroll his team had received at the beginning of the test, a black earth scroll, and placed it on the ground.

Sasuke's eyes followed the scroll as Dosu set it down, but as soon as Dosu released it, his eyes moved back up, making eye contact once more. "Keep it and maybe we'll fight again in a later test, when you're better prepared. We don't need your appeasements." Sasuke half turned away, still not breaking eye contact, not yet letting Dosu off the hook. "Hey Oscar," Sasuke called over one shoulder, "Do you still have both of our scrolls?"

Sakura and Naruto turned to the dark boy, who had frozen at those words. He let out a whispered curse and smacked himself in the forehead. At that sound, Sasuke turned around completely, the confidant smirk dying on his lips and his sharingan automatically deactivating, though his skin still bore the marks of the seal. "You're kidding me," he said hoarsely. "You _lost_ them?"

Oscar shook his head, cradling it in his hands, refusing to look up. Sasuke turned back to Dosu, who had already gathered his teammates and was in the act of taking the earth scroll he had offered. "On second thought, can you leave us that?" Sasuke asked.

"No offense, but if there's a chance you're not going to kill me now, I'd rather not help you guys pass on to the next round," Dosu said. "So no, I think I'll take this now, if it's all the same to you." He turned and bent his knees preparing to depart with the bodies of his teammates.

"You-!" Sasuke took a step forward, plunging his hand into his weapons pouch as he went, as though thinking of fighting Dosu again. However, he was brought up short by Naruto's voice.

"Let him go, Sasuke. We'll get the scrolls we need." Sasuke did not turn around to acknowledge Naruto, but he heeded his words, watching as Dosu departed with the black scroll. Once the Oto nin had vanished from sight, everyone rounded on Oscar.

"Oscar-kun, you'd better had a damn good reason for loosing those scrolls," Sakura said warningly.

"And even if you do, we may just have to kill you anyway," Naruto added. Sasuke walked over to join them.

Oscar raised his face from where he had been holding it in his hands. He looked surprised. "Who said I lost the scrolls?" he asked.

"Well, didn't you?" Sasuke asked.

"Ye of little faith," Oscar sighed. "I didn't loose them, I just hid them." Oscar reached over and pulled something out of Naruto's weapon pouch, eliciting a squawk from the blonde boy.

"Here you go," Oscar said, handing the earth scroll to Sasuke and the heaven scroll to Sakura. "Now the Sound nin won't be expecting us to pass because they won't think that we'll be able to gather both scrolls in the remaining time. It's the perfect plan!"

"Yeah, except for the fact that as soon as we get to the tower, they'll realize that we must have passed," Sasuke pointed out, handing the earth scroll to Naruto. No sooner had the scroll left his hand than he collapsed, the black markings adorning his skin swirling back into the seal on his neck and vanishing. Sakura shoved the heaven scroll into Naruto's hands as well and caught Sasuke, redirecting his fall so that his head rested in her lap.

"Sasuke-kun?" she asked tentatively. She touched the seal on the dark-haired boy's neck and hastily withdrew her hand. "The seal is hot," she told Oscar and Naruto.

Just then, Sasuke opened his eyes again and, seeing his teammates' anxious faces above him, hastily sat up again. He frowned at Sakura. "Sakura, your hair…"

"You mean this? It's nothing. I'm just experimenting," Sakura said, tossing her hair.

"Oh. Well, good for you." Sasuke looked at Naruto. "You okay? Before I passed out, you were unconscious in a tree, and once I woke up you were already fighting."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Naruto said.

"And you, Oscar," Sasuke said, turning to the dark boy, "Where the hell is your shirt? It makes it look weird for you to have your hitai-ate around your neck like that."

"Hey, it's hard to be a medic if you don't have any supplies! I needed bandages and I didn't have any…"

"Sasuke, what happened to you? What did that seal on your neck do?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. I don't feel tired or anything, but while it was active, my whole mindset seemed to change. The idea of killing the ninjas seemed really appealing and just knocking them out felt kind of docile and… unsatisfying. I felt incredibly powerful, but kind of like I was on a hair trigger. My actions became less about protecting you guys and more about the act of fighting and killing." Sasuke shivered a little.

Oscar looked at him consideringly. "That doesn't sound very good, although it's probably thanks to that seal you were able to fight at all so soon after facing that other kunoichi from Oto."

Sasuke shrugged. "In any case, I feel fine now, and unless you guys are too tired, I'd suggest that we press on to the tower while we've still got hours of daylight."

"I second that," Oscar said. "Even if we walk all day, we probably won't reach the tower until tomorrow morning, so we might as well make a start."

As they set out, Oscar fell into step with Naruto. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. Just kind of tired. And I keep feeling like there's something I forgot about," Naruto admitted.

"I may have the solution to that," Oscar said. "Remember, that woman hit you with some jutsu in the place right over Shujin's seal. I did a cursory examination, but keep in mind that I couldn't see the seal while you were unconscious. I didn't see anything off, but I really don't know anything about Jinchuriki or sealing, so my examination doesn't really count for anything. I just basically made sure you weren't seriously injured or dead or anything and left it at that."

"What are you getting at?" Naruto asked, frowning.

"Maybe nothing, but I think you ought to try and talk to Shujin. He might have a clearer idea of what if anything is happening on the inside of the seal. We can stop if it's easier for you contact him while you're not walking."

"No, that's okay. The mindlink means that I don't actually have to enter my mindscape to talk to Shujin. Hang on; I'll try to talk to him." Naruto fell silent and Oscar watched him closely.

_Oi, Shujin! Are you all right? I'm kind of worried about you, since that woman attacked me. You've been pretty quiet lately. How are things in there?_

'…'

There was no reply.

_Shujin?_

No response.

_Kyuubi no Yoko? _

"Log damn it!" Naruto swore loudly. Not waiting to answer his teammates' questions, he drew out a kunai and slashed it across the palm of his hand, gasping at the sting. He had stopped walking, staring at his wound. Bright blood welled up from the shallow cut and dripped over the edge of his hand, spattering on the ground. After ten seconds or so, the cut slowly began to heal, the edges of the severed skin slowly drawing together, zipping closed and leaving behind a patchy scab. After about a minute the scab flaked off, leaving a pinkish, irritated-looking scar. Naruto prodded it dubiously, and winced a little. It still stung, but it didn't seem to be healing any further.

"That's… not good," he said. The rest of team seven, who had stayed quiet throughout the entire scene, exchanged looks. "That took way longer than something that small ever has before. I hope Shujin's okay."

"Shujin is the Kyuubi, right?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, but he's a pretty good guy now. Actually, the change was mostly my fault, and I'm afraid it might have made the form he manifests as inside of my mindscape a lot weaker than it should be." Naruto glanced up from his hand and caught Sasuke's eye. He couldn't quite read the dark boy's expression. Naruto clenched his fist, concealing the new scar.

"But the fact that the cut healed at all means that the Kyuubi is still inside of you, right? I mean, he hasn't escaped, right?" Sakura asked.

"When the Kyuubi escapes, you'll probably be able to tell," Oscar said grimly.

"In any case, I can try to make contact through the mindscape once we stop for the night," Naruto said. "But for now, we ought to make as much progress as we can, like Oscar said."

* * *

When the four stopped for lunch they ate fish provided by Naruto through dint of the rest of the team electing that he be the one who went swimming. Naruto, shivering a bit, water dripping from the tips of his hair, asked to see the scrolls again while the fish were cooking. After making sure Naruto's hands were dry, Sasuke handed them over.

Naruto accepted them and stared at them for a long time, not speaking. Eventually, the chatter amongst the other three died out and they all sat in silence until Sasuke spoke.

"What're you thinking about?"

"Hm?" Naruto looked up. "Nothing. Just wondering how the other teams are doing. It's only the second day, after all. A lot of teams won't have their second scrolls yet."

"Even so, you guys should get a move on and get to the tower as soon as possible," came a voice from the nearby trees. Oscar leapt to his feet and Sakura and Sasuke half-rose, ready to put up a fight. However, Naruto spoke.

"It's alright, he won't hurt us. Or at least, I assume he won't." From the trees emerged a boy with a long silver ponytail and a pair of round glasses perched on his nose.

"How did you know who it was?" Kabuto asked interestedly.

Naruto shrugged offhandedly. He was finding it hard to forget the suspicions Shujin had had the day before about the older boy. "I recognized your voice. What do you want?"

Kabuto joined them, sitting by the makeshift fire pit. "Just to give you guys a bit of advice, that's all."

"Why would you want to do that?" Sakura asked.

"No reason, really. This is your first chunin exam, and to tell you the truth, I don't really think you have much of a chance at passing, so I don't see you as much of a competition. On the other hand, we're all from Konoha, and it would be a shame if you guys got killed before you were even made chunin."

"Where's you team?" Oscar asked.

"Oh, they're waiting for me to bring our scrolls to them. They said they'd hang around the tower until I got there, because we got separated a few hours ago. A few more hours of waiting won't kill them."

No one bothered to point out that a few hours of staying in one spot had almost gotten _them_ killed. Instead, Naruto started to ask what Kabuto's advice was, when Sakura interrupted him.

"Do you want any fish, Kabuto-san?"

Naruto shot Sakura a confused look. "But there are only four fish."

"Well, yes, Naruto-kun, there are." Sakura gave him a meaningful look. He got the gist at once.

"_Oh_ no! No offence, Kabuto, but I am not going swimming again!"

"That's alright, I don't need anything," Kabuto said quickly, "Though I would suggest that you finish quickly and put out this fire. The smell of it and the smoke will attract all kinds of animals, as well as enemy shinobi. Once you're done and we can get going, I'll tell some things that you may find interesting."

* * *

The five of them moved off, travelling ninja-style and leaping from branch to branch instead of walking. None of the members of team seven really trusted Kabuto, but they hadn't had a chance to discuss it, and anyway, they were willing to accept any help they could get while they were still on the outside of the tower.

"If you guys already have both of your scrolls, it may be good in that you can concentrate on avoiding any groups you pass instead of challenging them, but you still have to be careful. Any groups who have lost their scrolls already may target those who have two scrolls. In addition, after the first couple of days, particularly on the fourth day or so, people begin to get desperate. They will figure that since everyone is heading for the tower anyway, they may as well lie in wait there and ambush groups that already have two scrolls."

"Seeing as it's only the second day, albeit nearing sunset, I don't see how that's a problem," Oscar said, brushing a leafy branch out of his way.

"True, it isn't that much of a problem now, but if you wait to long, I'm just telling you what you can expect to see," Kabuto clarified.

Naruto was not paying attention to this conversation. He was trying to get in touch with Shujin again. The fact that he couldn't so much as make contact was definitely more worrying than he had told his teammates. In addition, he kept sending covert glances Sasuke's way. The Uchiha had seemed to gloss over his condition rather, and Naruto wasn't sure that he should have been travelling yet.

Naruto's inattentiveness cost him when he made he next leap to a branch some distance away and his foot slipped. He let out a startled shout and saved himself by jamming a kunai into the branch and hanging on until he could pull himself up. His teammates stopped and waited and Naruto stood, embarrassed, forgetting to withdraw his kunai from the branch. Not that it really mattered, his shadow clones could always stand in for weapons, either by henge'ing or by simply throwing themselves at the enemy.

The small group moved on. Every once in a while, they caught sight of the tower that was their destination through the branches of the trees. Finally, after a long stretch of silence, Sakura voiced what they had all been thinking for a long time.

"The tower doesn't seem any closer than it did a while ago."

Just then, Naruto stumbled on his landing. He automatically looked down, only to see a kunai lodged in the branch he was standing on. "Um," he said, stooping and drawing the knife from the branch. "I put this here less than an hour ago. Have we been going in circles?"

Everyone looked at Kabuto accusingly. He calmly pushed his glasses up higher on his nose. "It seems we've fallen into someone's genjutsu. They've been leading us in circles for who-knows-how-long, tiring us out. And now that it's getting dark, they're probably about to spring their trap."

There was the sound of low chuckling. The genin looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. From all around them, heads began to emerge from the tree branches and trunks. "Lucky for us you're already tired. We were getting bored just leading you around and around."

* * *

A/N: Just so you guys know, I won't be withing spitting distance of a computer for the next four weeks, so updates will not start happening again until after both that and I update my Perfection fic.

About the chapter: For those who will think that this chapter is the start of a beautiful OscarxSakura relationship... I'm sorry. I WILL NEVER PAIR OSCAR AND SAKURA! My only explanation for this chapter is that everyone else was unconscious...

So yeah, read, review (yes, when I say review, I do mean review this,) and do something fun with your summer. Peace!


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter XXIV

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Heads melted up out of the branches around them. Each pale face was strapped into an identical a breathing apparatus and wore his hair in a dark, tufty shock. Naruto growled, unconsciously backing toward his teammates and Kabuto. Sakura was the first to speak.

"Why are there so many?" She asked.

"Clones?" Sasuke suggested.

"If they are, this shouldn't take long," Naruto said. Before anyone could remark on this statement, Naruto launched himself forward, slamming a fist into the nearest of the black-clad shinobi. He smirked as his fist sank right through the body, which gave only the faintest of resistances to his fist. It was like punching through melted rubber, Naruto thought. He turned to reassure his team, but the confident words died on his tongue. The black, sticky body he had supposedly incapacitated was reforming, the arm he had savagely ripped away from the body seamlessly rejoining the whole. The clone- or whatever it was- rolled its reattached shoulder as if working out the kinks, then curled its fingers into a fist, staring at the movement in apparent wonderment. Then it drew back its fist and punched Naruto across the face.

Naruto landed on his back but was on his feet again in an instant as the black-clad bodies closed around him. _What are they? Damnit, I wish Shujin could help me out!_ One of the enemies standing apart from the small mob now surrounding Naruto drew out a large, modified kunai and threw it with practiced ease. Straight at Sasuke.

Sasuke stood immobilized as the projectile streaked toward him. He didn't even seem to hear his teammates' shouts.

When Oscar saw that Sasuke wasn't even tensing his muscles to dodge, he drew out a shuriken took a moment to aim, and threw it. It hit the kunai mid-flight and knocked it off course, spinning toward Kabuto and slashing across the palm he raised when the he saw he was going to be too late to dodge.

Sakura ran to Sasuke, who didn't so much as look at her. He seemed entirely frozen, and when Sakura glanced anxiously at his neck, she noticed a ring of black, sinister-looking flame-marks around the seal there. Tentatively, she touched the seal. It was hot, once again. Her touch seemed to stimulate the dark-haired boy, who knocked her hand out of the way and moved so he could see Naruto through the crowd of bodies around him.

Naruto slashed at the enemy shinobi. _Are they illusions? They're not dispelling like shadow clones, but that kunai that cut Kabuto was solid. How is this possible?_ He tore through another two of the enemies, in time to see Sasuke move. The Uchiha had his Sharingan active, but he looked pale and unwell all the same. Naruto slashed at the enemies around him, wishing his other teammates would take the initiative and come and help him.

Sasuke frowned at Naruto's attacks, at the bodies reforming the moment Naruto turned his back on them to give one of their fellows as good as they had gotten. He activated his Sharingan and studied the enemies more closely. "Don't bother, Naruto," he said finally. They're illusions. A genjutsu. The caster must be nearby, lobbing real weapons to confuse us and make us think these things are solid." Sasuke raised his voice. "Still trying to tire us out?" then, louder and with a touch of anger, "Show yourself!"

"But why would we want to do that? Lucky for us, this little distraction is working so well. You're all tired and worn out, and on top of that, you have no idea where we are. What decent shinobi would give up that advantage?" The voice was cold and mocking and full of amusement. It drifted through the clearing, not allowing even Naruto, with his keen hearing, to get a fix on the spot where it originated.

"One who isn't a coward," Sasuke snarled. He raised a hand and rubbed the seal at his neck, as though it pained him.

Sasuke's reply was a hail of weapons, seemingly coming from all sides. All of them dodged, not knowing which ones were real. "Do you really think cowards would take on an Uchiha where he could see us? No. That's fool's work," the voice hissed.

Being mindful of his gashed and bloody palm, Kabuto adjusted his glasses, his expression seemingly more mild than the situation warranted. "They must be long-range fighters, to be going to such great lengths to avoid short-range encounters," he remarked.

"Or maybe Sasuke just scared them away with his Sharingan," Sakura suggested. _Or they could be wary of that seal on Sasuke's neck. _

"That could be it. Even _I_ sometimes get scared when I see Sasuke's face," Oscar snickered. Naruto snorted and Sakura gritted her teeth against the jibe. Sasuke did not rise to the bait.

"Whatever the reason, I'm sick of these guys," Naruto said, his laughter sliding down an octave into a growl. "Why does everyone keep forgetting that Sasuke's not the only one on this team?"

"Because he's so pretty?" Oscar suggested.

Sakura wasn't prepared for that, and her laughter slipped out before she could think about it. She clapped a hand over her mouth, horrified, as Sasuke sent her a baleful look. "Traitor," he muttered. Kabuto raised a sardonic eyebrow.

Naruto, not paying attention to any of this, brought his hands together in a seal. "Well, be that as it may, I am just as capable a ninja as he is, and I'm going to prove it! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Shadow clones appeared, swamping the clearing, filling the gaps between the opponents. The clones leapt forward, tearing through the apparitions with ease. It almost seemed as though Naruto had won, until new forms began to melt upward from the earth. Angrily, Naruto's clones set upon this new challenge, but wave after wave of illusions kept on coming, augmented by weapons, illusory and solid, slowly driving back Naruto's clones. In the end, Naruto sank to one knee, apparently exhausted, watching grimly as the illusions once again reformed. Things were looking bad.

It was a moment before Naruto realized that the illusions that were forming were different than all the other ones had been. These three wore clumsily stitched white clothes, and where all of the black-clad illusions had been identical, these three were definitely unique.

"Are those the real ones?" Sakura asked.

"So it would seem," Kabuto confirmed.

Naruto shot them a look, before hauling himself to his feet again and facing the enemies.

One of the Rain genin, identified as such by their hitai-ate adorned with identical sets of vertical lines, was standing between and slightly ahead of his teammates. He chuckled, the sound muffled by his breathing mask. "Lucky for us that even after you realized we were using a genjutsu, none of you thought to actually dispel it."

Naruto stiffened, mouth shaping a soundless curse before he whirled around to give Sakura and annoyed look. "Sakura!"

"What?" she asked, looking confused.

"You're supposed to be the smart one on our team! I mean, it's no good expecting duck-butt over there to expend any mental energy on any topic other than himself, and anything that comes out of Oscar's mouth we just end up tuning out anyway, and I'm the flipping deadlast, for the Log's sake, but you're supposed to be on top of these things! Why didn't you try to dispel the genjutsu or tell the rest of us to try when Sasuke first told us that's what they were instead of letting me run myself into the ground?"

Sakura's bewilderment quickly turned to resentful indignation as she growled in the back of her throat and made to take a step forward. Kabuto cut in before the pink-haired girl could start in on her chakra-depleted teammate. "I notice you didn't mention why _I_ shouldn't have thought to dispel the genjutsu," he put in mildly.

"Yeah, well, I don't really know you. Log knows _what_ was going through your head at the time," Naruto said. His voice was calm, though there was a bit of an edge that Kabuto couldn't fail to register.

The three Rain nin, so recently basking in their triumph, listened idly to the Leaf nin's chatter while they pitched strategy ideas to each other. However, they went cold at the sound of the voice coming from behind them. "Hm. Is that so?" The voice was an exact replica of that of the silver-haired boy before them, the one who had just been speaking. The Rain nin whirled around as one to see five figures behind them, identical to the set they had just been facing. Kabuto was looking at Naruto, his arms crossed. He spared a finger to push up the bridge of his glasses in order to stare better.

Naruto raised his hands to shoulder-height, palms out. "Hey, those were my clones talking! They can be real jerks and they say stupid stuff sometimes!" _Not to mention they can have real trouble keeping their collective mouths shut. I didn't want Kabuto to know I was suspicious of him! Better he thinks that I still trust him._

Oscar raised his eyebrows. "Far be it of _you_ to ever say stupid stuff," he deadpanned. Sasuke snorted, though Naruto didn't miss the grimace at the end of the strained-sounding laughter, or the way Sasuke's hand twitched as if he wanted to lay a hand on the seal on his neck.

Meanwhile, the confused Rain nin glanced back to see the first set of ninjas enveloped in little puffs of smoke to reveal a line of grinning Narutos. Henged shadow clones, every one of them. When had they made the switch?

"How do you genjutsu users like it? We swapped places while I was spamming shadow clones," Naruto smirked. He made a dispel handsign and there were several puffs of smoke. To his dismay, as the Rain genin turned to face the real team, Naruto's knees buckled and deposited him on the ground. "Er, I think something's starting to go wrong in our flawless plan," he confessed, looking to his teammates.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You're just low on chakra, dobe."

"Oh. Huh. Is this how you always feel after we're done sparring? Wow, it really _does_ suck to be you."

"And yet, which of us is currently able to stand?"

"Hey, I wouldn't be talking about that just now if I were you, duck-butt. You aren't exactly stable yourself at the moment."

"Makes no difference. All of you just sit tight while I deal with these guys."

"What happened to teamwork?" Oscar muttered as Sasuke extricated himself from the bushes he had been standing in. "Seriously, Sakura, Kabuto and I haven't gotten to kick_ anyone_'s ass in this fight. Why do the grandstanders always get the pleasure of kicking people around?"

"If it's all the same to you, I'm perfectly happy to sit this one out," Sakura murmured drily. "If you'll recall, it wasn't that long ago that I had the crap beat out of me and my shoulder dislocated and then had to stay up half the night on guard duty. And then right after _that_ we were attacked _again,_ and now-"

"Yeah, yeah, too long; didn't listen. I lived through it too, you know," Oscar said, miming a rather ostentatious yawn. He was just in time to dart forward and grab Sasuke's arm as the other boy's knees buckled. However, Sasuke brushed away Oscar's hands as soon as he could stand.

"I don't need your help," he growled.

"On the contrary, you _do_ need our help. That seal on your neck is starting to put out little flame designs again, and, though I enjoy a good fire as much as the next guy who happens to wear green spandex, I'd rather not see it in the form of your funeral pyre. I can tell the longer that seal's not kept in check, the more it's impairing your free movement. It's hurting you. So let us _help_." Oscar spoke slowly and firmly, though he did not try to support the other boy again.

Sasuke gave Oscar a surprised look, and then sighed. "It doesn't really matter at this point."

"What are you ta-"

"Dobe's already got it covered, of course." Sasuke shook his head. "Damn, and I was really hoping to work off a little steam on those guys."

Oscar turned to see Naruto, almost as tired and exhausted as Sasuke, fumbling to tie knots in the rope he had wrapped around the unconscious forms of the Rain nin. Kabuto crouched beside Naruto, a hand apparently cradling his face.

When the silver-haired boy glanced around at the rest of team seven, they noticed the blood oozing from between his fingers and the manic gleam in his eye. When he spoke, his voice seemed subtly different, less restrained than before. "Should we kill them?" he asked. "If we tie them up, they'll probably just die at someone or something else's hands anyway. It would be better if we just kill them. Can I do it?"

"Whoa there, Kabuto-san," Sakura said, stepping forward to help Naruto tie his knots. The blonde boy was making frustrated growling noises by that time. "We only need one psyc-"

"Hey! What have I told you?"

"Fine._ Socio_path- on this team. I think it would be best if you just took a deep breath, let someone clean up your wounds, and _didn't_ kill anyone for a while. What do you think?"

Kabuto stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment, before slowly lowering his hand from his face and, even more slowly, standing up. He made a gesture as if to adjust his glasses, frowning in perplexity when he discovered only one half of the frames in his hand. He put the ruined lens in his pocket and instead smoothed back the bangs of his long hair. He took a long, measured breath, careful not to stretch the slash across his face. "I apologize," he said finally. It came out more-or-less sounding like his normal tone of voice. "And there's no need to attend to my wounds. I'm fine. We should get moving again soon, anyway."

"It's alright," Oscar said. "And we'll get going in a bit. But first- "He jerked a thumb at the unconscious enemies. "What happened with them, anyway? I kind of missed it."

Naruto giggled a little. "Yup. You are definitely not in your right mind right now," Oscar told the blonde boy decisively. The dark boy looked pleadingly up at the canopy of leaves high above. "The Log has a cruel sense of humor if It has decided that I should be the only sane one here while we travel to the tower," he decreed solemnly.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "For the record, I'm still sane. And _before you say anything about that_, _I'll _tell you what happened.

"_Makes no difference. All of you just sit tight while I deal with these guys."_

_Naruto turned away from Sasuke so that the dark-haired boy couldn't lip-read his next words with the Sharingan. "Not gonna happen. I've already won." Naruto leapt forward, unimpeded by his distracted teammates. His grin turned feral when the looks under his enemies' breathing masks turned surprised. All of them made moves to form hand seals, ones vaguely similar to a Bunshin, Naruto noticed. However, they never got a chance to finish their attack. Instead, each found himself seized from behind, a pair of arms looping up through theirs and pinning them in place._

_Naruto smirked. "When you saw the dispel seal and smoke, you thought I dispelled my clones. But I had just shown you that I could henge them. So I had them turn into pebbles until you turned your attention away from them. The smoke and seals were purely for your benefit. I don't really need my old handicaps anymore." _

_Naruto's smirk slipped somewhat as two of the three struggling Rain nin managed to work themselves free. The first one kicked his legs up over his own and the clone's head, causing the clone to stumble and nearly drop the boy. The second one went limb, falling to the ground in a crouch before knocking the clone holding him off of its feet. The boys straightened up, ignoring their teammate, whose struggles were not paying off so well. Without so much as a glance to communicate with each other, the two boys leapt on Naruto. They were confused when, less than a moment later, each found himself lying on the ground on his back, cradling his aching head._

_They heard a whoop of laughter and sat up in time to see Naruto knock out their still restrained teammate. Naruto grinned at them. "Kawirimi," he said, pointing to the log that had replaced him, and that consequently both boys had hit their foreheads on when the dived forward. _

_One of the downed Rain nin snarled and, faster than Naruto could follow, Kawirimi'd. The next thing Naruto knew, the boy was directly before him, a kunai flashing down toward Naruto's throat. Naruto knew he was too weak to dodge it, but he was unsure how much damage his healing factor could deal with, what with his channel to Shujin cut off. Naruto leaned back out of the path of the knife, falling into a sitting position on the ground when he was once again confused by a flurry of movement before him. When the action slowed, Naruto saw Kabuto standing over him, supporting the enemy ninja by the front of his shirt. The Rain boy's head was lolling to one side, a trickle of blood running down his temple. Kabuto let the boy slump to the ground with apparent disgust. When he turned to Naruto, the exhausted boy noticed the deep gash across Kabuto's face. _

_Kabuto threw a coil of rope to Naruto. "You'd better tie them up," he growled._

"I _so_ can't believe we missed that fight," Oscar groused.

"Are you still on about that? That was hours ago!" Sakura said. She glanced around and Oscar followed her gaze. Walking behind them was Kabuto, with Naruto and Sasuke bringing up the rear. Both were too proud to accept help from their teammates, but too weak to travel shinobi-style, far above the ground through the branches of the trees. It was early evening already, but the tower was nowhere in sight. Oscar suspected that they were slightly off course, it being difficult to gauge without a visual on their destination.

Dark shadows were beginning to gather under the outstretched branches of the canopy high above, seeping down to steal precious visibility from the lowest levels of the forest floor. Everyone knew they would have to sleep in a short time; Naruto and Sasuke would probably collapse soon, though neither made any allusion to the fact, choosing instead to press on in silence.

When they finally set up camp and watches and rations were shared out, heavier on the former, unfortunately, Naruto and Sasuke settled down to sleep. Naruto slept fitfully, but lay still and silent every time he woke, so the others would not know. He could hear Sasuke a few feet away, shifting and muttering, sounding disturbed. Once or twice, Naruto awoke to the sound of Sasuke shooting bolt upright. Naruto would peek under his eyelashes and see his teammate's silhouette outlined against the surrounding twilight. Sasuke would raise one hand tentatively to the side of his neck, before wincing and lying down again. Naruto pretended not to see.

At some point during the night, he found himself wondering how Hinata's team was doing. Had they encountered as much trouble as team seven, or were they, in fact, already at the tower, perhaps with two scrolls in hand…?

The next time Naruto awoke, pale, early morning sunlight was filtering down through the leaves, casting crazy black patterns over everything. When he sat up and looked over, he could barely see the marks on Sasuke's neck due to the patchwork of shadows. But it was still there, still malignant.

Naruto approached Oscar, who had drawn the final watch of the night and was idly twisting a kunai between his fingers, sitting hunched with his back to a tree. "Where's Kabuto?" The blonde boy asked.

In answer, Oscar pointed up to the branches above. "Orienting us," he said brusquely.

Naruto looked up, but was unable to spot their silver-hair cohort. He turned his attention back to Oscar, who was hauling himself to his feet. "You trust him not to run off?" he asked quietly.

"To be honest, no, but I wouldn't care that much if he did," Oscar yawned. "Anyway, _I_ wasn't going to climb up there and look, and I was going to wait another half hour to wake you guys. Guess if you're up, though, we should break camp. It can't be too far to the tower, now."

Just then, Naruto spotted Kabuto, calmly striding down the trunk of the nearest tree.

* * *

The five shinobi paused, poised in the branches of a tree at the edge of a truly massive clearing. From the center rose a tower, perfectly round and boasting a height to rival the Hokage Tower.

"Thank the Log," Sakura sighed, casting Sasuke a worried glance.

"About time," Oscar and Naruto said.

Kabuto just smiled. "Now that we're here, I ought to rejoin my team," he said.

"Yes, of course," Sasuke said. He watched Kabuto as the boy made his way to the ground, eyes narrowed. Soon, the older boy was obscured by the dense layers of leaves in the way.

* * *

The four teammates entered the tower together, Sakura clutching the Heaven Scroll and Naruto grimly hanging onto the Earth scroll. There was no one there. They did not even see Kabuto and his team, let alone any other teams. The room was large, encompassing the entire first level of the tower, and had balconies on either side, overshadowing the spot where the members of team seven stood. There were no decorations, save for a single poster on the wall facing the door. Sakura peered up at it, a frown on her face.

_Where is everyone? The upper levels?_ Naruto thought.

"What's it say?" Sasuke asked, directing his question to Sakura.

"'Without heaven,'" she muttered, almost to herself. "Something's missing, a word or phrase."

"Maybe that's what's in the scrolls," Naruto suggested, shrugging.

"It may be important," Sakura trailed off.

"Then let's open them," Oscar said. Slowly, Sakura and Naruto, fumbled with the edges of the bound scrolls, before unrolling them side-by-side.

"Together, these kanji spell 'person'," Sasuke said, obviously confused.

"Then what-?" But Oscar was cut off when the kanji began to bulge and smoke. Naruto and Sakura instinctually dropped the scrolls, stepping back. A column of smoke rose from the two scrolls. _A summoning?_

A dark form appeared in the midst of the smoke. "Is that who I think it is?" Oscar asked.

The man stepped forward and smiled down at them. "Hey guys," Iruka said.

"No, it's not the Raikage," Oscar sighed in disappointment. Everyone ignored him.

"Iruka, what are you doing here? Where is everyone else?" Naruto questioned.

"What, I don't even get a 'Hey, how are you'?" Iruka asked.

"Hey, Iruka, how are you? What are you doing here? Where the _hell _is everyone else and why have you not brought ramen?"

"How do you know I didn't bring ramen?"

"I can't smell any on you, Iruka-sensei. What about my other questions?"

Iruka sighed, pleased to see his students once more, though he cast Sasuke a worried glance. The Uchiha was pale and looked slightly unsteady. "Everyone is upstairs, waiting for me to finish giving you the usual speech."

"And what's that?" Sakura asked.

"You four pass the second test." Iruka allowed himself a smile at the weary grins on Oscar and Sakura's faces and at Naruto's whoops of joy. Even Sasuke looked marginally happier at the news. "And I have to say, I'm proud of you guys. It's only the fourth day. Usually teams only make it here on day five, if at all."

"Are you going to tell us what the writing on the wall means?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah. In it, 'Heaven' refers to a shinobi's mind and 'Earth' refers to his-"

"Or her!"

"-or _her_ body. It's supposed to say, 'If heaven you do not find in yourself, seek both wisdom and knowledge and be prepared. If Earth you lack, run in the fields, seek your advantages and make them bend to you. When a perfect balance of heaven and earth is obtained, the most dangerous mission poses no obstacle. Allow these rules to guide your extremes, shinobi-san.' That is the motto of a Chunin. You guys are almost there, with just one more test ahead. I believe you can pass. I have no doubt that you will exceed me, and I could not be more proud." Iruka allowed his former students one more smile, before it faded from his face, leaving him calm and serious. "However, you must be careful. There may be only one test left, but it is one in which the danger is often highest. Do your best and push yourselves, but if it comes to that, I'd rather you choose life and the choice of future promotion over your pride."

"So much for faith," Oscar muttered, scraping the sole of his sandal across the floor, not meeting Iruka's eyes.

"You don't have to worry, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said. "We're shinobi. We can handle it." Naruto smiled. _And in many ways, we may have already surpassed you._

"I'll hold you to that." Iruka imitated Naruto's smile.

* * *

A/N: Whoa, maybe my latest update ever compared to the length of the chapter. (**) Just a heads up, production will be pretty slow for the next few months, due to mounds of homework to rival the paperwork Sarutobi has to deal with on a daily basis.

Also, anyone going to NYComicCon this weekend, keep an eye out for me! (I'll be Ezio accompanied by Harley Quinn on Saturday and Duke Devlin accompanied by Harley, Daphne, and the Doctor [11] on Sunday)

So without further ado, the chapter summary (Yay! throws confetti, chokes on it, then gets a broom to sweep it up)

1) Fight with the Ame nin aannndd~ my first ever flashback in this story!  
2) Kabuto reveals a little instability (or is that insanity?)  
3) Iruka totally meant to bring ramen, he just forgot to grab it before he was summoned.  
4) The fights will begin next chapter!

As always, I will be updating Perfection next! That's all for tonight, folks! Pax!


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